Noir Humor/ Decadent/ Sadistic/ Surrealistic/ Novel
"It is not right that everyone should read the pages which follow; only a few will be able to savour this bitter fruit with impunity"
So wrote the self-styled author Comte de Lautreamont at the beginning of his sensational novel 'Chants de Maldoror' - Le Comte de Lautreamont was the pen name used by the French author Isidore Ducasse (1846-1870) and this work is one of the earliest and most astonishing examples of surrealist writing ever. The writer's mysterious life and death are no more less interesting than his infamous classic incendiary novel of 'black/noir humor'.
Lautreamont's fantasy world - part visionary dream and part nightmare - is populated with with bizarre creatures and strange people and the writing is drenched in unrestrained sadistic savagery, startling imagery and delirious menace and mayhem - it possesses a macabre, erotic, blasphemous, grandiose, hallucinatory quality quite un-like any other book...
From the Book:
"For my part, I use my genius to depict the delights of cruelty - delights which are not transitory or artificial - but which began with man and will end with him. Cannot genius be allied with cruelty in the secret resolutions of Providence ? Or can one, being cruel, not have genius ? The proof will be seen in my words. You have only to listen to me, if you wish.... Excuse me, for a moment it seemed as if my hair was standing on end - but it is nothing, for I had no trouble putting them back in place again with my hand..."
Andre Breton, Alfred Jarry, Andre Gide, Paul Verlaine and Modigliani all hailed it as a work of genius - and is said to be one of the inspirational cornerstones of Surrealism.
This volume also includes a translation of his Poesies/ Poems
**Orders Outside USA please e-mail: danger@komabookstore.com - for shipping price
