Description
The macabre but beautiful work, Les Chants de Maldoror, has achieved a considerable reputation as one of the earliest and most extraordinary examples of Surrealist writing. It is a long narrative prose poem which celebrates the principle of Evil in an elaborate style and with a passion akin to religious fanaticism. The French poet-critic Georges Hugnet has written of Lautreamont: "He terrifies, stupefies, strikes dumb. He could look squarely at that which others had merely given a passing glance."
Little is known of the author of Maldoror, Isidore Ducasse, self-styled Comte de Lautreamont, except that he was born in Montevideo, Uruguay in 1846 and died in Paris at the age of twenty-four. When first published in 1868-9, Maldoror went almost unnoticed. But in the nineties the book was rediscovered and hailed as a work of genius by such eminent writers as Huysmans, Leon Bloy, Maeterlinck, and Remy de Gourmont. Later still, Lautreamont was to be canonized as one of their principal "ancestors" by the Paris Surrealists.
This edition, translated by Guy Wernham, includes also a long introduction to a never-written, or now lost, volume of poetry. Thus, except for a few letters, it gives all the surviving literary work of Lautreamont.
About the Author
Little is known of the author of Maldoror, Isidore Ducasse, self-styled Comte de Lautreamont, except that he was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1846 and died in Paris at the age of twenty-four. Guy Wernham, perhaps best known for his definitive translation of Maldoror, was associated with the Beat Poets.
Reviews
"I like Lautreamont a lot. He taught me how important and how possible it was to write a sentence that is just gorgeous. Actually, I'm about overdue for a rereading of Maldoror I'd like to pick up a few tricks from that book again." -- William T. Vollmann - The Paris Review
"The expression of a revelation so complete it seems to exceed human potential." -- Andre Breton
Book Information
ISBN 9780811200820
Author Conte De Lautreamont
Format Paperback
Page Count 342
Imprint New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publisher New Directions Publishing Corporation
Weight(grams) 330g
Dimensions(mm) 203mm * 132mm * 25mm