Knygatin Wrote:
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> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I think that it's the ramblings of a drug
> > addict--probably laudanum. He is profoundly
> > addicted and probably has been for some time.
> >
> > If this is accurate, it's an example of
> unreliable
> > POV and you can count on nothing as being
> > literally true.
> >
> >
>
> That seems a very sensible observation, Sawfish.
> But "Xelucha" is not only that. Lovecraft wrote
> briefly of it in his famous essay on supernatural
> literature - "“Xélucha†is a noxiously
> hideous fragment". I don't have his letters handy,
> and can't remember what he wrote more of it to
> Smith and others. I think we are confronted by
> something awful here, and that it is best to stow
> this story away from further sight and study.
Oh, it's awful, all right, K.
I think there exists a literature of decadence that ***hints*** at come just awful stuff. Sometimes I think I'll try to explore it, but get a bit queasy when I think of the stuff I've already read--and now Xelucha will join that list.
Here's another--the first work that led me to consider this area of vague but powerful currentsw of disquiet. I've mentioned it before and I hope mentioning it now is not redundant.
Maldoror by the Compte de L'autrmonte
[
librivox.org]
Excerpt from Wikipedia:
The work's transgressive, violent, and absurd themes are shared in common with much of Surrealism's output;[3] in particular, Louis Aragon, André Breton, Salvador DalÃ, Man Ray, and Philippe Soupault were influenced by the work.[a] Maldoror was itself influenced by earlier gothic literature of the period, including Lord Byron's Manfred, and Charles Maturin's Melmoth the Wanderer.
In cinema, there's also some of the work of Visconti.
--Sawfish
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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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