Femmes damnées, by Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley, New York (1906)

My third selection from Crowley’s collection Rodin in Rime (1907) belongs to the second section “Sonnets and Quatorzains,” whose poems have all 14 lines. Its French title “Femmes damnées” (translating as ‘doomed women’) comes from two poems in Les Fleurs du Mal by Charles Baudelaire, one of which (subtitled “Delphine et Hippolyte”) was banned by the French censorship between 1857 and 1949. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Hey Schoolgirl (1957), by Tom and Jerry (Simon and Garfunkel)

Tom and Jerry (Simon and Garfunkel)
Tom and Jerry (Simon and Garfunkel) – 1957

Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) and Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) are known for their folk rock duo, with best-selling hits such as “The Sound of Silence” (1964), “Mrs. Robinson” (1968), “The Boxer” (1969), and “Bridge over Troubled Water” (1970). Their musical collaboration dates from high school, at age 15, but at that time they were practising rather traditional rock and roll. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Agitations paranormales autour de Minou Drouet

Minou Drouet
Minou Drouet – dans Minou Drouet : ses messages de lumière, de Georgette Corot-Gélas

La publication des poèmes de Minou Drouet et ensuite l’histoire de son enfance ont toujours donné lieu à des allégations fantastiques, soit sur les supposés pouvoirs paranormaux de la fillette, soit sur l’influence télépathique ou l’emprise hypnotique de sa mère adoptive. Celle-ci d’ailleurs contribua pour une large part à ces spéculations. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

To Ianthe, by George Gordon Byron

Lady Charlotte Harley as Ianthe
Drawn by R. Westall and engraved by W. Finden – Lady Charlotte Harley as Ianthe (1833) – from Wikimedia Commons

Lord Byron’s long poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage was published between 1812 and 1818, the first two Cantos in 1812, the third in 1816 and the fourth in 1818, and each edition added some new material. The seventh edition appeared on February 1, 1814, with nine poems added to the twenty already published, and a poem titled “To Ianthe” was prefixed to the First Canto. Written in the autumn of 1812, it was dedicated to Lady Charlotte Harley. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

L’éternel printemps, by Aleister Crowley

Todd Webb - LaSalle Street and Amsterdam Avenue, Harlem
Todd Webb – LaSalle Street and Amsterdam Avenue, Harlem (1946) – Museum of the City of New York / Todd Webb Archive

I present today a second poem from the section “Various Measures” in the collection of verses Rodin in Rime. Youth directly feel the truth of love and life by dancing and holding each other, while old people try to reach it by pondering. The poet says: roll back the wheel of time and rejoin youth. Yielding to the ecstasy of love and dance, all ages can be one with eternity. CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…

Mme Claude Drouet n’aurait jamais pu écrire les poèmes de Minou

Claude et Minou Drouet
IMS Vintage Photos – Claude et Minou Drouet (c.1962)

Quand René Julliard publia les premiers poèmes de Minou Drouet en 1955, de nombreux critiques crièrent à la supercherie, affirmant que sa mère adoptive, Claude Drouet, en était le véritable auteur. Ainsi André Breton affirma, invoquant les travaux du psychologue Jean Piaget : « il n’est pas une enfant de cet âge et bien au-delà, qui puisse, par elle-même et à elle seule, écrire ce qu’on prête à Minou Drouet. » Dans un entretien avec André Parinaud, Michèle Perrein, reporter du journal Elle et principale propagandiste de la thèse de l’imposture, usa également d’un pareil argument : CONTINUE READING / CONTINUER LA LECTURE…