Isidore: A Novel About the Comte de Lautreamont [Hardcover]

Jeremy Reed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 1992

An imaginative novel recreating the life of Isidore Ducasse, the self-styled Comte de Lautreamont who he died under mysterious circumstances in 1871. He left almost no clues to his existence, except the explosive, astonishing prose poem, Les Chants de Maldoror, precursor to the works of the Surrealists. Reed evokes a fictional life of the notorious Comte extraordinary for its concentration of poetic power and for its excursions into the psychological hells of the underworld. In identifying himself with Lautreamont, he succeeds in an uncanny impersonation of the style of that morbid youth, obsessed with decay."" - The Times. ""Written in a lush, elegant prose...a satisfying work of biography."" - Bloomsbury Review.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Isidore Ducasse, better known by his literary moniker, the Comte de Lautreamont, left only one significant work, Les Chants de Maldoror , but that convulsive experimental novel gained him permanent entrance to the modernist pantheon. Otherwise, we know almost nothing of this Surrealist prodigy, who died in 1871 at the age of 23, having destroyed all his personal papers. In this fictionalized biography, English poet Reed has embellished the scant traces of Ducasse's life--his childhood in Paraguay, his membership in the Parisian netherworld--into a hallucinatory replica of the decadent imagination in full fever. Well received on its publication in England, Isidore extends the genre of self-conscious literature we associate with Anthony Burgess and Julian Barnes, among English authors. Poetry lovers will be taken with Reed's lush prose and musky psychological perfumes; diehard bohemians will sway dreamily to its strains of Baudelaire and Poe. A clever and unsettling performance.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Reed is a poet of rich and subversive imagery. In identifying himself with Lautreamont, he succeeds in an uncanny impersonation of the style of that morbid youth. -- The Times

Superb - Jeremy Reed convincingly becomes Isidore Ducasse in this brilliant and exotic re-creation of the world of The Songs of Maldoror...this extraordinary and poetic text. Enthralling and entertaining from first to last. -- J G Ballard --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 150 pages
• Publisher: Peter Owen Ltd (November 18, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0720608317
• ISBN-13: 978-0720608311
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,755,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars surprisingly dull..., January 4, 2002

By 

alexander ai (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Isidore: A Novel About the Comte de Lautreamont (Hardcover)

I hunted this book down through what seemed virtually every bookstore in Manhattan until I finally found it used at the Strand. Having read Reed's amazing erotic classic, The Pleasure Chateau, & seeing how much Lautremont had influenced his style in that book, I was certain that a book by Reed dealing directly with Lautremont himself would be something extraordinary. I was extremely disappointed to read this dull, minutely over-analyzed fictionalized *report* on Lautremont's not-all-that-interesting comings & goings, relationship with his father, etc. Perhaps if I hadnt had such high expectations for the book I would have liked it better, but somehow I doubt that, for I wasnt even compelled to finish it. For that reason alone, I give it two stars, figuring it would be unfair under the circumstances to give it any less...and on the chance that Reed, who I still admire greatly for The Pleasure Chateau, might have done *something* of interest, eventually, with this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Read The Original And Skip This One, January 16, 2005

By 

M. Hori "Jesse Glass" (Urayasu, Chiba Japan) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Isidore (Paperback)

The implication here is that in this book--told from the point of view of the brilliant Isidore Ducasse, the future writer of Maldoror--Jeremy Reed will show the reader that he is quite up to the task of reproducing the mad, visionary, surreal style of the original. He isn't. What he does deliver is 144 pages of clotted prose seasoned with hints, guesses, a few facts, a few interesting tropes. Skip this book and go directly to the original, or, if you can't read French, purchase the Complete Works in the Lykiyard translation from Exact Change Publishers. The difference between this book and Maldoror is the difference between watered-down tea and the finest Cognac, no matter what J.G. Ballard says on the back cover.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing fictional biography., July 16, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Isidore: A Novel About the Comte de Lautreamont (Hardcover)

Biographical information about the elusive Isidore Ducasse, a writer whom Andre Breton referred to as "a contemporary, one who was among us, yet we know less about him than we do about Dante, Shakespeare or Homer," is sketchy at best. This makes Reed's novel a risky venture, while at the same time leaving him a great deal of imaginative freedom. His writing is so compelling, and the voice of Ducasse, also known as le Comte de Lautreamont, so strong, that at times you'll find yourself thinking, This is the way it must have happened.