Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.
PERFIDIOUS SNARE
Maldoror, our supernatural protagonist, begins this stanza by expressing his support and admiration for gay men. Modern readers often hilariously misinterpret this as some sort of advanced and enlightened advocacy on the part of the author Isidore Ducasse. Unfortunately that is not the case.
Maldoror makes it clear that he considers what gay men do to be sinful and perverse, which is why he approves of it and participates in pederasty himself. He gives gay men his dark blessing and sings the praises of kissing various portions of his gay lovers’ anatomies. He proceeds with rapturous accounts of spreading the legs of other men and attaching his mouth to “the insignia of their modesty.” Continue reading
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