Tag Archives: Isidore Ducasse

May 19, 2015 · 8:37 pm

MALDOROR 3:3 – THE TIGER-HEADED DRAGON

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror. It’s a battle of monsters this time around.

THE TIGER-HEADED DRAGON

Image by Joey B at Deviant Art

Image by Joey B at Deviant Art

As this stanza begins the supernatural being Maldoror has been conversing with the Wandering Jew from folklore. Way back in And Now Men Fear You No More we learned about Maldoror’s long-ago relationship with Lohengrin the Knight of the Swan when they both lived in the Grail Castle. Now our main character interacts with another figure from legend.

The narrative never bothers clarifying which of the many versions of the Wandering Jew story it favors, it’s simply presenting a chance meeting of two ancient beings who wander the Earth.  

A white-winged, serpent-tailed dragon with the head and body of a tiger makes an aerial approach toward the two figures. The dragon lands and the Wandering Jew notes it is taller than the tallest oak. The dragon has come for Maldoror and the two exchange words of greeting as a prelude to their battle.  Continue reading →

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May 15, 2015 · 8:43 pm

MALDOROR 3:2 – VICTIMS BOTH LIVING AND DEAD

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

VICTIMS BOTH LIVING AND DEAD

Maldoror 2The malevolent supernatural being Maldoror commits one of his most horrific acts of violence ever in this stanza. For those horror fans who prefer to see our vile main character perpetrating genuine atrocities this is the tale for you.  

This stanza begins with Maldoror contemplating an elderly, poverty-stricken madwoman who roams the roads of France. She wears tattered clothing and her aged face is withered like a mummy’s while what little hair she has left falls like long spider-legs over her head and neck. Continue reading →

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May 9, 2015 · 5:08 pm

MALDOROR 3:1 – THE MYSTERIOUS RIDERS

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

THE MYSTERIOUS RIDERS 

Mysterious HorsemenThis is the First Stanza of the Third Canto (3:1). It should be no surprise to anyone that Maldoror once again presents an image of himself that contradicts much of what he has previously told the reader. In this stanza he is the Angel of the Land and is forever in the company of his lover Mario, the Angel of the Sea. The two frequently ride their horses at incredible speed along the beaches of the world, tracing the shoreline of continents and inspiring hushed superstitious whispers from the fishermen who observe them speeding by.

The pair glory in each other’s company and share a regal disdain for the human race, dismissing the planet Earth as a “craggy chamberpot”. We are told that “unlimited chains of generations” have regarded the two lovers with unease since they often appear at times of war or disease. (Readers may remember previous hints Maldoror has given that he is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse biding his time until the end of the world arrives.) Maldoror and his companion are also often sighted flying in the air overhead as hurricanes unleash massive destruction.   Continue reading →

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May 5, 2015 · 10:20 pm

MALDOROR 2:15 – THE CONQUEST OF CONSCIENCE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror. The title character clashes with God directly again this time as well as with a flock of winged octopi.

THE CONQUEST OF CONSCIENCE

maldoror 2 15 tentaclesWe’ve come to the end of the Second Canto of The Songs of Maldoror. In this stanza the supernatural being Maldoror returns to the version of his past in which he is untold centuries old. Our insane narrator adopts and disgards these multiple personae like clothing selected to match his mood of the day.  

For people who obsess over continuity this stanza matches up well with And Now Men Fear You No More, in which Maldoror is supposedly one of the angels who remained neutral in the war between God and Lucifer. In that stanza our main character also takes credit for tutoring mankind in the ways of challenging God/The Demiurge through rational thought and counter-theology.    Continue reading →

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May 2, 2015 · 3:49 pm

MALDOROR 2:14 – THE BODY IN THE SEINE

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

THE BODY IN THE SEINE

body floatingLast time around the monster Maldoror was involved in a tale of mayhem, murder and bestiality. This time around he’s in the presumed role of a hero. A swollen body floats down the Seine River. A boatman hooks the corpse with a pole and drags it to shore, where a curious crowd has gathered.  Continue reading →

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April 30, 2015 · 9:57 pm

MALDOROR 2:13 – I SOUGHT A SOUL THAT MIGHT RESEMBLE MINE

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

I SOUGHT A SOUL THAT MIGHT RESEMBLE MINE

SharkI’m not bothering with a detailed look at Maldoror 2:12 because it was a fairly run of the mill (for Ducasse) look at the hopelessly groveling nature of prayers to a deity. He has just one point to make – that prayers are basically butt-kissing disguised as devotion – and makes it over and over again. 

I’ll pick up with Maldoror 2:13, which – for cross-referencing purposes – I’m titling I Sought a Soul That Might Resemble Mine. This stanza begins with our supernatural main character lamenting his lonely uniqueness and longing to find someone like himself.  Continue reading →

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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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