Tag Archives: 1800’s horror

April 27, 2015 · 3:14 pm

MALDOROR 2:11 – THE ANGEL OF THE LAMP

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror. This time around the title character battles an angel from Heaven.

THE ANGEL OF THE LAMP

Notre Dame Cathedral BESTThe vile supernatural being Maldoror is lurking near a Paris cathedral. He is furiously cursing a lamp that hangs high overhead in the sacred place because the “holy” light it shines prevents him from attacking the worshippers inside. He begs the lamp to permit itself to be extinguished by the wind, reminding it that it owes nothing to the worshippers that it protects from his assaults.

Maldoror can tell the lamp is acting specifically on orders from his archrival God because of the way its light glows more and more intensely to drive him out whenever he attempts to enter during a mass but the people in attendance at the mass seem oblivious to the blinding intensity of the light which assails him. Our protagonist has returned to the cathedral in the dead of night to confront the lamp. Continue reading →

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April 25, 2015 · 4:24 pm

MALDOROR 2:10 – THE ENVENOMED WEAPON

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE ENVENOMED WEAPON

Maldoror 2 10 robed womenOur supernatural narrator Maldoror, fresh off canonizing lice as deities in his demented personal pantheon now enshrines three goddesses in his fevered belief system. Those goddesses are Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry.

He praises their perfection and their dispassionate aloofness. He admires the way in which there is no deceiving them nor escaping them, since they set the very rules of the universe. Maldoror metaphorically describes his first encounter with them as if they were three beautiful women who summoned him to them in his youth, when he groped and molested them while discerning their secrets.  Continue reading →

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April 23, 2015 · 9:03 pm

MALDOROR 2:9 – PRAYERS TO THE GODS CALLED LICE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

PRAYERS TO THE GODS CALLED LICE

head liceThe supernatural being Maldoror devotes this stanza to waxing rhapsodic about lice. Yes, actual lice. For the most part the demented yet brilliant figure does this as a wry mockery of religion itself but mixes in some of his own depraved acts of violence for some extra spice to the story.  

His first prayer to the gods called lice praises them as powerful deities who could grow to the size of elephants and crush all animal life on earth if not for the offerings of blood that lice are given from the hair or fur of us beasts. This prayer calls lice the most esteemed of life forms, worthy of using the heads of mankind as their thrones. Continue reading →

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April 18, 2015 · 5:06 pm

MALDOROR 2:8 – A THRONE MADE OF EXCREMENT AND GOLD

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror. WARNING: This part is not for the weak of stomach. 

A THRONE MADE OF EXCREMENT AND GOLD

Maldoror confronting GodThis stanza starts out with the supernatural being Maldoror describing the visceral reaction he has to the sound of a human voice singing. His eyes are filled with the flame of his loathing and his ears feel assaulted as if by cannon fire. By comparison when he hears the sounds of musical instruments unaccompanied by voices he feels ineffably ecstatic.  

Those observations provide a segue-way into yet ANOTHER contradictory account of Maldoror’s past. I will say it again: Maldoror lies, then lies about the lies.  

This time around our malevolent main character tells us he was born deaf and didn’t learn to speak for several years and even then it was with great difficulty. He was beautiful in his youth (or was born with his horrific facial scars if you believe his previous accounts) and that beauty was admired by everyone who encountered him. Continue reading →

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April 16, 2015 · 11:10 pm

MALDOROR 2:7 – THE HERMAPHRODITE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE HERMAPHRODITE

HermaphroditeIn this stanza the supernatural being Maldoror contemplates a beautiful human hermaphrodite sleeping in a forest near Paris. This portion of The Songs of Maldoror really emphasizes the oneric nature of Ducasse’s writing. Stanzas like this one and The Philosophical Gravedigger always make me wonder if the French horror film director Jean Rollin was influenced by the Count de Lautreamont.    

This interlude with the hermaphrodite reminds me of Rollins’ Two Orphan Vampires and the way the title figures have brief encounters with the mad wolf-woman of the train yard, the haughty matriarchal vampress and the she-ghoul. The mystery surrounding the exact nature of the orphan vampires, who may or may not have been around since the Aztecs, is reminiscent of the enigmas surrounding Maldoror himself.   Continue reading →

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April 11, 2015 · 5:01 pm

MALDOROR 2:6 – THE JUSTICE OFFERED BY THE LAW IS WORTHLESS

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE JUSTICE OFFERED BY THE LAW IS WORTHLESS

Tuileries gardens at nightThe supernatural being Maldoror, fresh off his sadistic murder of a 10 year old girl in the previous stanza, this time around turns his attentions on an 8 year old little boy. Our vile protagonist first spots the child sitting on a bench in the Tuileries Gardens. Maldoror sits down next to the boy and engages him in conversation. 

The conversation consists of the monstrous figure peppering the child with questions about his beliefs and his dreams for the future as well as his barely-developed notions of right and wrong.  Continue reading →

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April 7, 2015 · 10:58 pm

MALDOROR 2:5 – INDELIBLE BLOOD GLITTERING LIKE A DIAMOND

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

INDELIBLE BLOOD GLITTERING LIKE A DIAMOND

Maldoror 2 5Back to the insane, taciturn and blood-thirsty Maldoror we’re used to this time around. The supernatural being has been strolling through a particular narrow Paris alley as part of the ground he covers while taking his walk. A slender ten year old girl, oblivious to the danger she’s courting, takes to following him each time until he gets to the end of the alley where she and her mother live.

Growing bolder she even takes to playfully blocking his way sometimes. On occassions when Maldoror tries to walk through at a brisker pace she speeds up her own gait to keep pace with him. On occassions when he goes slowly through the alley the little girl matches that pace, too. When she tries to start a conversation with the monstrous figure by asking him what time it is he coldly replies that he has no watch. 

Initially Maldoror toys with the idea of sparing the child’s life by simply avoiding the alley from now on. Unfortunately as his disturbed mind continues mulling over the situation he slowly convinces himself the child has dark motives and might even be a youthful prostitute like the 12 year old runaways from England. Maldoror convinces himself the mother could be the child’s Madam. At the very least if the little girl lives she will eventually turn out like the rest of the human race that our vile narrator loathes so deeply.  Continue reading →

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April 4, 2015 · 5:25 pm

MALDOROR 2:4 – THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Midnight strikes in Paris. An eerie double-decker horse-drawn omnibus bursts forth from the ground and begins making its way through the nearly empty, night-darkened streets.

A few late night wayfarers regard the unusual omnibus with a shudder as it goes by. The vehicle carries the full passenger load of twenty-four but all of the travelers on the upper deck appear to be lifeless corpses leaned against each other.

The top-hatted driver looks like another corpse, and the whip he uses to urge on his horses seems more alive than he is. That whip appears to be what animates the arm of the otherwise lifeless driver, not the other way around. Even the passengers on the inner deck remain mute and still and are likewise as pale as ghosts.   Continue reading →

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April 2, 2015 · 2:31 am

MALDOROR 2:3 – AND NOW MEN FEAR YOU NO MORE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

AND NOW MEN FEAR YOU NO MORE

Maldoror 2 3The enigmatic supernatural being Maldoror opens this stanza by reflecting that he hopes the day never dawns when he and Lohengrin unknowingly jostle each other side by side and elbow to elbow in a crowded city, then each continue on their separate paths, as oblivious to their near encounter as strangers who pass in a crowd. 

Yes, as that opening would indicate our vile protagonist now ties himself into esoteric Grail lore as he provides us once again with hints at his real nature. As always these hints contradict the previous hints he has given us about himself. 

First, however, Maldoror addresses God-as- Demiurge in an accusatory manner again, pointing out that as quickly as Maldoror used a hammer to bash in the brains of his most recent victim – a woman this time – the Creator could share with humanity the secret wisdom that he forever withholds from his creations. He further implies that God no longer converses with humanity as he did in the long distant past because now mankind has grown sophisticated enough that they would shout defiance at him and “fling all their shame back in God’s face.”  Continue reading →

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March 28, 2015 · 3:28 pm

MALDOROR 2:2 – THE LASH OF LIGHTNING ACROSS MY BROW

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE LASH OF LIGHTNING ACROSS MY BROW

Maldoror 2.2We now move on to the 2nd Canto of The Songs of Maldoror. For the benefit of newcomers I’ll point out that prose translations of this work are plentiful for those who don’t like poetry. I’m continuing my practice of assigning unofficial titles to each part simply to make cross-referencing easier since otherwise we have just the numbers to go by.

The first part of the 2nd Canto (or Maldoror 2:1) is simply an address to the reader from the author Isidore Ducasse, the self-designated Count de Lautreamont. I’ll pick up with the second part of the 2nd Canto, or Maldoror 2:2.  

The supernatural being Maldoror opens this part by recounting how God tried to prevent him from continuing with his bizarre, blasphemous writings. At first the deity attempted to paralyze our vile protagonist’s hands whenever he would try to put pen to paper. Maldoror overcame those efforts so God tries a more direct approach and unleashes a thunderstorm on our main character’s home.  Continue reading →

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