Tag Archives: Maldoror

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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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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