Maldoror By Comte de Lautréamont

[xequalsy]

Edition: Translated into English by Paul Knight, 1978
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Format: Paperback
Pages: ~219
Source: You can find the original version in French online (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12005). If you are looking for a translated version though, I ordered mine

Comments

[inverarity]

Thank you for the review! Sounds interesting, though not like I would particularly enjoy it.

I added the author tag for you. :)

[la_mariane]

Hourah for finishing this book. It was on my assigned reading list at uni and it's the only book I could never finish (and I did read Sade, which was plain disturbing, so it's saying something). I think the part with lice convinced me to close the book.

There is one thing though : I'm pretty sure Maldoror was never intended as a novel, it's poetry. The original version is in poetic prose.

Hugh, I just went to Wikipedia to check, and here is what it says "Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror) is a poetic novel (or a long prose poem) consisting of six cantos." I'm honestly surprised because I remember lectures on late 19th century French lit, and Maldoror was never mentionned as a novel. My old lit books all say Maldoror is poetry.

[xequalsy]

My bad! I do vaguely remember now that you mention it the foreword mentioning something about poetic prose or some such term. I guess that would explain the disjointed narrative! (somewhat at least)

I'm not really clear on the distinction between prose and poetry in this context though, since Maldoror did not read as what I am even vaguely familiar with of poetry.

[la_mariane]

The late 19th century poets tried to writ poetry without using verses at all. Honestly, Baudelaire's prose poems are far better than Maldoror.