On back cover book subject is listed as "History/Decadence" -EF
"Satanic Alchemy is a testament to the enduring myth of Gilles de Rais
and his fantastic, if actually less frightening alter ego, Barbe-Bleue,
and the way in which the two have fused in the popular imagination of
centuries. The spectre of de Rais/Bluebeard has permeated French (and
to a lesser degree pan-European) consciousness to almost as great an
extent as that of the Marquis de Sade, to the point where Jules
Michelet, in his History Of The French Revolution, could declare:
"Societies perish under atrocity, the Middles Ages by a Gilles de Retz;
the old order by de Sade, high priest of assassins”. This fascination
applies equally to literature; of the surrealists, Georges Bataille in
particular engaged with de Rais, closely examining his case in The
Trial Of Gilles de Rais (1965), while Antonin Artaud in the first
manifesto of his Theatre Of Cruelty (1932) saw in a putative
reconstruction of the Bluebeard story the chance for a "new notion of
eroticism and cruelty”. While Bataille's interests remain historical
and anthropological, the story of Gilles de Rais has attracted as many
novelists as historians, drawn to the mythopoeic aura of this most
enigmatic of mass-murderers. The first notable literary advocate of
Gilles de Rais remains J-K Huysmans, famous for his novel A Rebours and
its quintessential decadent, Des Esseintes. Huysmans' later novel
La-Bas (1891), a virtual apology for Satanism, is threaded by a version
of the de Rais story as narrated by the book's protagonist, Durtal.
Punctuated by the author's own poetic interventions, this account
depicts de Rais as an arch-decadent beset by demonic visions and
ravening sexual manias - "the 15th century Des Esseintes”. The most
intriguing entry in Satanic Alchemy must be the first ever English
translation of Huysmans' pamphlet La Sorcellerie En Poitou (also known
as La Magie En Poitou), published in 1897 in a limited edition for
private circulation only. Described by Huysmans as a reductionist,
non-fiction version of La-Bas, it demonstrates the ongoing fascination
exerted by de Rais over the author. Satanic Alchemy continues with
three more views of de Rais by notable, but very differing, authors:
Valentine Penrose, Sabine Baring-Gould, and Georges Bataille.
Beautifully translated from the original French by Alexander Trocchi,
Valentine Penrose's evocation of the de Rais legend is taken from The
Bloody Countess (1952), her classic account of Elizabeth Bathory."
"Satanic Alchemy is a testament to the enduring myth of Gilles de Rais
and his fantastic, if actually less frightening alter ego, Barbe-Bleue,
and the way in which the two have fused in the popular imagination of
centuries. The spectre of de Rais/Bluebeard has permeated French (and
to a lesser degree pan-European) consciousness to almost as great an
extent as that of the Marquis de Sade, to the point where Jules
Michelet, in his History Of The French Revolution, could declare:
"Societies perish under atrocity, the Middles Ages by a Gilles de Retz;
the old order by de Sade, high priest of assassins”. This fascination
applies equally to literature; of the surrealists, Georges Bataille in
particular engaged with de Rais, closely examining his case in The
Trial Of Gilles de Rais (1965), while Antonin Artaud in the first
manifesto of his Theatre Of Cruelty (1932) saw in a putative
reconstruction of the Bluebeard story the chance for a "new notion of
eroticism and cruelty”. While Bataille's interests remain historical
and anthropological, the story of Gilles de Rais has attracted as many
novelists as historians, drawn to the mythopoeic aura of this most
enigmatic of mass-murderers. The first notable literary advocate of
Gilles de Rais remains J-K Huysmans, famous for his novel A Rebours and
its quintessential decadent, Des Esseintes. Huysmans' later novel
La-Bas (1891), a virtual apology for Satanism, is threaded by a version
of the de Rais story as narrated by the book's protagonist, Durtal.
Punctuated by the author's own poetic interventions, this account
depicts de Rais as an arch-decadent beset by demonic visions and
ravening sexual manias - "the 15th century Des Esseintes”. The most
intriguing entry in Satanic Alchemy must be the first ever English
translation of Huysmans' pamphlet La Sorcellerie En Poitou (also known
as La Magie En Poitou), published in 1897 in a limited edition for
private circulation only. Described by Huysmans as a reductionist,
non-fiction version of La-Bas, it demonstrates the ongoing fascination
exerted by de Rais over the author. Satanic Alchemy continues with
three more views of de Rais by notable, but very differing, authors:
Valentine Penrose, Sabine Baring-Gould, and Georges Bataille.
Beautifully translated from the original French by Alexander Trocchi,
Valentine Penrose's evocation of the de Rais legend is taken from The
Bloody Countess (1952), her classic account of Elizabeth Bathory."