Comte de Lautréamont
Poetry / Dark Romanticism
Perhaps this text is one of the worst in French literature – everything is on the dark side – nothing luminous, nothing great, beautiful or noble in The Songs of Maldoror
No, it is, long before its time, a terrifying journey into those so-called unknown lands of the bad parts of our souls.
So beware: this text is not for children.
It is not for fragile souls, impressionable souls, for those who cannot drink poison without being permanently poisoned.
Lautréamont, through six Songs – six long terrible songs – walks his hero Maldoror in the darkest corners of our desires, of our desires. He goes to seek what is pleasure in all that returns us to this reality of the man who is the predator. A reality that is no longer in vogue – it’s true – but a reality nonetheless.
Where he doesn’t give in to weakness, where he doesn’t fall into absolute perversion – it’s that he walks his hero and his reader with always an ironic remark – always this distance which allows to take the counter-poison.
But if we don’t see it, too bad – the soul is lost and passed to the Sith Lords.
And all these so-called morbid pleasures are accompanied by an incredible and extravagant collection of monsters of all types, fom all waters, of all shapes, creations that have in common only their atrocities – and their infinite variety – creations that you and I are going to find a few years later in all the imaginations of painters, visual creators, directors and of course creators of video games.
To make it chic, I’ve chosen some illustrations and derivatives by Magritte and Dali – because I’m a girl, you see, and I can say whatever I want, I like to be chic sometimes.
Let’s get back to my point: if I create a theatre that connects the cultural worlds of our time, and I miss out on Maldoror, I miss out on everything that the games have created as works directly inspired by these songs.
I’m not talking about the dive into the world of the Sith as a joke – because in the end that’s exactly what seeing Maldoror’s Songs is – it’s also designed as a kind of journey.
I could tell you more about the Dark Souls universe – same link.
So of course Maldoror has to be presented on a stage.
The only difficulty is the text – which is a real poison – not a joke – it is the kind of text that can take souls with it.
How to do it then?
I believe that – in addition to the millions of warnings – which are usually useless but give a good conscience – it is necessary to present the counter-poison.
How can we not slip into the delights of evil once we have entered it? How can we not remain lost?
But – with a laugh.
Lautréamont shows it during all the text – it is the humor the counter-poison.
So let’s propose this counter-poison after the poison.
Serious people, bitter people, perverse people, when do they laugh? when are they flippant? when do they dismiss everything – and themselves first – with a wave of the hand while laughing and thinking of something else?
never – the casualness, the lightness – what weapons against these morbid desires – unstoppable.
It’s a good thing, theatres are full of casual and light works.
Don’t you believe me?
If it were all in French, after Lautréamont I would propose Sacha Guitry – very nasty – very casual – perfect to get out of the sticky net of morbid desires.
And as, of course, the 19th century was teeming with great others of immense darkness, it will not be limited to Lautréamont. What luck – no – it is not at all a coincidence – that is why we find such enormous traces in our world.
That’s it – I’m done.
I’ll come back for a bit before I have time again – but mostly I’ll be working these next few weeks – and…
no –
no, I won’t say what’s behind that “and”, ah !
but c’est très drôle, very funny, parfaitement madame monsieur, très drôle, toc
Featured Image : Predatory Love – by Rain – from The Songs of Maldoror
ALTAIR - Concepts 
One thought