Andre Breton described Maldoror as "the expression of a revelation so complete it seems to exceed human potential." Little is known about its pseudonymous author, aside from his real name (Isidore Ducasse), birth in Uruguay (1846) and early death in Paris (1870). Lautreamont bewildered his contemporaries, but the Surrealists modeled their efforts after his black humor and poetic leaps of logic, exemplified by the oft-quoted line, "As beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing machine and an umbrella." Maldoror 's shocked first publisher refused to bind the sheets of the original edition--and perhaps no better invitation exists to this book, which warns the reader, "Only the few may relish this bitter fruit without danger." This is the only complete annotated collection of Lautreamont's writings available in English, in Alexis Lykiard's superior translation. For this latest edition, Lykiard updates his introduction to include recent scholarship.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
69 of 76 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Songs of Maldoror" is not a book--it is a searing, rambling, poisonous "derangement of all the senses" in masquerade. After more than a century it still has the power to shock, startle and repulse. Precisely imagined, "Maldoror" is a fairly obscure classic of late 19th century French literature, and is on par with Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarme, etc. You must read this if you love those writers!
Maldoror is the narrator, and sometime character when the narrative shifts unexpectedly into third person, and the alter ego of the mysterious young Comte de Lautreamont--which was the pen name of Isidore Ducasse. Dead by 24, he left behind this time-bomb. Maldoror is a sadist, a murderer, a philosopher, an outcast from the normal order of life. He encourages readers to kidnap a child and torture it, to taste its tears and its blood--all within the first 30 pages. Right on! You are not dealing with a rational, predictable mind here.
One of the book's most fascinating aspects is its continuous imagery of animals, both everyday and exotic, majestic and absurd: sharks, turkeys, crabs, eagles, octopi, tigers, wovles, insects, serpents. These creatures are presented with the sharp eye of the biologist. By likening humanity to animals, Lautreamont achieves a double effect: man comes off as debased and at the same time, elevated: to be like an animal man must be rid of all his pretensions and vanities. It is this pretense to culture and civilized behavior that sicken Lautreamont/Maldoror.
Many passsages still shock and disgust--and yes, entertain with their feverish intensity, particularly the one in which Maldoror copulates with a man-eating shark. A church lantern turns into an angel, deteriorates into pus when Maldoror licks its face, and is soon only "an enormous loathsome wound."
Maldoror also despises God--ostensibly the creator of all this human stupidity and vice. "My poetry shall consist of attacks, by all means, upon that wild beast, man, and the Creator, who should never have begotten such vermin!" When Maldoror confronts God, Maldoror metamorphosizes into a giant octopus and clamps his monstrous new tentacles around His body...
This anti-theistic viewpoint is startling and refreshing compared to the religious aspects of Rimbaud and Baudelaire. This work is a must-read for those interested in avant-garde, bizarre literature; it is also the springboard for Surrealism (with the passage, "As beautiful as the chance meeting on a dissecting table of a sewing maching and an umbrella," Andre Breton saw the future of his imagination). This edition contains a good introduction about the work itself, its language, what "Lautreamont" means, earlier mistranslations, etc. Lykiard's translation is fantastic. Don't hesitate, get this book today!
46 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"maldoror" is one of the most intriguing, weird little books i've ever read. every surrealism fiend (like myself) should buy numerous copies of this book. lautreamont advances on every form of authority and convention with an aggressiveness and deadly seriousness that would have made jim morrison shudder, and we find ourselves shivering during parts of this dark but beautiful pearl of a book. maldoror, the outcast monster, is perhaps every alienated person we have scorned and ostracized because of their individuality or uniqueness. he is a furious and vicious being of total revolt, and by the end of this strangely dreamlike, automatic text, we have seen every barrier of civilization and every moral that lays the foundation of society trampled and spat upon. look especially for the scene where maldoror guns down some swimmers in the ocean and then proceeds to have sex with a whale. (i wonder if he wrapped it up!) when andre breton said this book seemed to exceed the limits of human capacity, he wasn't joking. if you're a misanthrope and a disaffected weirdo like myself, you simply cannot miss this. a sometimes startling yet essential celebration of ultimate freedom and absolute rebellion.
20 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As English editions of 'Les chants de Maldoror' go, this is the best translation available today. Don't bother with the Wernham- the language is stilted and captures little of the book's fury that is driven equally by content and by its linguistic style. Because I am in the process of a new translation myself, I am perhaps overly critical. That said, avoid the Wernham.. Lykiard has a far better sense of Lautréamont's poetic project and includes appendices that are truly helpful. For the moment, I think that this is the best bet for English readers. (And yes, the book is incredible, the four stars are for the translation not for the book itself, which defies comparison: a contemporary of Baudelaire, Lautréamont/Ducasse is usually given more credit as a ranting eccentric than a prodigious poet. Later cited by the Surrealists as an important influence, I consider this work to be far more complex and original than the majority of the Surrealist's own work. For an interesting theoretical study of the book, try Alex de Jonge's 'Nightmare Culture' or Paul Zweig's "Lautréamont: The Violent Narcissus'.)
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not finishes yet
Im only just getting passed to "Ode to the sea". This is great stuff, with an almost greater story behind the writing of it.
Published 4 months ago by DavidK
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it !!
I came upon this book Via Goodreads and after reading it I LOVED IT
I liked the layers of images and thoughts piled up upon each other
I cannot describe it any other way
I liked the layers of images and thoughts piled up upon each other
I cannot describe it any other way
Published 4 months ago by mark bryngelson
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOT a "Bible of the Unconscious"
I wanted to read this work because of its significance for the Surrealists, such as Andre Breton. It has been called, by Franklin Rosemont (editor of Breton's "What is Surrealism? Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. Riverblue Cloudwalker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read, or You Don't Deserve Words
When it comes to "Maldoror" you have two choices. Read it; or put out your eyes, cut out your tongue, and chop off your fingers, because you obviously don't deserve words. Read more
Published on October 30, 2009 by maxson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hunter s. Thompson on absinthe
This book is my favorite of all of the 19th century French writers. That century and that country produced some of the most amazingly twisted writers of any era, on par with... Read more
Published on July 1, 2009 by C. Park
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's about Writing
It's more fun to realize that it's about writing, illustrations of writing and figures for writing. The reader is represented in the story as the victim of the author, which he... Read more
Published on September 28, 2008 by rhhardin
2.0 out of 5 stars
Tremendously Overrated (Both Book And Translation)
Lautreamont's *Maldoror* is legendary for its bold and complex phrasing and imagery, for its reputation of embodying Surrealism *avant la lettre*, and for its remarkably extreme,... Read more
Published on June 23, 2008 by Carnamagos
5.0 out of 5 stars
A 5-star constellation of evil and negation...
Lushly, sensuously, decadently overwritten, a fatal literary intersection where Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Poe, and Sade collide and out of the spectacular wreckage something lopes off... Read more
Published on April 10, 2008 by Mark Nadja
5.0 out of 5 stars
best book ive ever read
this is the best book i've ever read and by far the best translation of it. i can't really say anything more.
Published on January 7, 2008 by Mr. Birdlick
5.0 out of 5 stars
Step Into Darkness
I like my writers drunk, blasphemous, decadent and French. If any of that list sounds even vaguely familiar then this is the book for you. Read more
Published on January 11, 2007 by Samuel Wells
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