Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.
SPREADING MY WINGS INTO MY TORTURED MEMORY
This stanza starts out with vague hints about what is going on but gradually becomes clearer.
The supernatural being Maldoror finds himself haunted by the ghost of the first person he ever killed. In an account that – naturally – contradicts some of the versions of his past that he has previously related, our protagonist recalls what happened.
Maldoror tells us that when he was 15 years old he had a 14 year old friend named Falmer. Falmer was a blonde-haired boy who looked up to our malevolent main character, who used to protect him. One day Maldoror was about to plunge a knife into the breast of a young woman when Falmer grabbed him by the hand to try to stop him.
Enraged at his younger friend for presuming to interfere with his violent impulses Maldoror ripped off the blonde boy’s hair and layer of cranial flesh, like in a scalping. Then the monster hurled Falmer against a nearby tree with such force that his spine shattered.
The witnesses to all this began hurling rocks at Maldoror and chasing him. Still too young to be sure of the extent of his own abilities Maldoror fled before them and to the present day remembered the mocking cry of some cruel children taunting him (those cads) about running along with Falmer’s freshly-removed scalp and hair in his hand.
Back in the present Maldoror struggles to sleep but whenever he begins to drift off the voice of Falmer’s ghost prevents him from resting. +++
This very short stanza brings an end to the 4th Canto. Next time around I will begin the 5th Canto of 6 total.
I WILL BE EXAMINING ADDITIONAL SECTIONS VERY SOON. CHECK BACK ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK FOR NEW INSTALLMENTS.
FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE: http://glitternight.com/2015/02/28/maldoror-a-neglected-masterpiece-of-surreal-horror/
FOR OTHER PARTS OF MALDOROR CLICK HERE: http://glitternight.com/category/maldoror/
© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
