Back to Balladeer’s Blog’s chapter guide to my examination of Isidore Ducasse’s 1868 work of surreal horror The Songs of Maldoror.
FOURTH CANTO
Fourth Canto, Stanza 1: PRELUDE TO A PRIVATE ARMAGEDDON – At Dendera in Egypt Maldoror recalls his past visits to the city and foresees a future day when he will battle all of the Earth’s armies in that same location. CLICK HERE
Fourth Canto, Stanza 2: THE MARRIAGE OF PROVERBS AND METAPHORS – Maldoror becomes lost in the Valley of Unreality where literal reality and metaphorical reality overlap. All that plus esoteric reflections on ancient meditation practices intended to unleash one’s astral body. CLICK HERE
Fourth Canto, Stanza 3: THE TORMENTED MAN – While watching a man getting tortured by his own wife and mother Maldoror reflects on various atrocities of his own. CLICK HERE Continue reading
Third Canto, Stanza 1: THE MYSTERIOUS RIDERS – The enigmatic monster Maldoror and his lover Mario (another supernatural being) terrorize humanity, mate in space and encounter unspeakable creatures beneath the sea. CLICK 
I. Jacques Morand – Roughly 300 years ago Jacques Morand was in love with Genevieve Parent. Unfortunately for him Genevieve decided to join a convent. When Morand could not change her mind through pleading he turned to threats, which drew warnings from Genevieve’s father and brothers. 
THE WEREWOLF (1896) – By Clemence Annie Housman. Halloween month continues at Balladeer’s Blog! This neglected story features a female author writing about a FEMALE WEREWOLF so that makes it a bit special right there.
Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues … 
THE BARENHAUTER 
THE MESSENGER (1897) – Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues with another neglected work of horror – this one penned by Robert W Chambers, author of The King in Yellow, which I reviewed 
THE SPECTRE LEAGUERS – In 1792 the Gloucester Leaguers returned from the dead to plague Massachusetts 100 years after their horrors had first been unleashed.
THE DEAD DANCE BY MOONLIGHT – Manetti the mad violinist terrorized the New England states in the late 1700s. His favorite instrument was made out of enchanted wood from the forests of the infamous White Mountains. When Manetti chose to he could play his violin in such a way as to bring the dead up from their graves and make them do his bidding. FOR THE FULL STORY CLICK 
THE MARQUETTE MONSTER – This horrific monster was sighted by Jacques Marquette in the 1670s near what is now Alton, IL. Native Americans of the region called it the Piasa Bird and had been making artwork depicting the beast since around 1200 AD according to archaeological findings. The creature was supposedly the size of a horse with the torso of a cougar, huge wings like a bat and a human head sprouting deer antlers. FOR THE FULL STORY CLICK 
