Floris and Blancheflour (is) (not) the missing link …

Floris and Blancheflour (is) (not) the missing link between European medieval literature and the Arabian Nights.

Many of the details, such as the Tower of Maidens (i.e. harem), eunuch guards, and the odalisques (white slavery) derive from material carried to the west via The Arabian Nights. The frame tale of The Nights (the king “re-marries” every night) is reflected in a plot element (“the king re-marries every year”) in Floris and Blancheflour.

The tale could be originally French, or possibly of Oriental origins, or a synthesis of motifs. Kathleen Coyne Kelly, in her essay “Bartering of Blauncheflur,” summarized the discussion of the sources as follows: “Scholars disagree as to whether Floris and Blauncheflur is an oriental tale that was adapted for Western audiences, or a tale whose European author simply supplied it with an oriental setting.”

Compared to other medieval romances, the story has not frequently been brought to the screen. In 1978 Fabrice Luchini and Arielle Dombasle (photo) portrayed Floris and Blancheflour in Perceval le gallois by Éric Rohmer.

Never mind the bollocks, here’s Rabelais

Never mind the bollocks, here’s Rabelais

Friar John and Panurge give the blason and contreblason du couillon by Rabelais

As I noted in a previous post[1] on satirical pornography or pornographic satire, Rabelais’s masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel is more emetic than erotic.

There is however a strain of eroticism to be found in Rabelais, a strain of the bawdy, ribald and burlesque variety, which dates back at its earliest to the Ancient Greek Milesian tale.

The Milesian tales are the earliest instances of erotic literature in the Western world. They directly influenced Apuleius‘ The Golden Ass, Petronius‘ Satyricon in antiquity. They were mentioned in Traitté de l’origine des romans. Aristidean saucy and disreputable heroes and spicy, fast-paced anecdote resurfaced in the medieval fabliaux. Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale is in Aristides’ tradition, as are some of the saltier tales in Boccaccio’s Decameron or the Heptameron of Marguerite of Navarre and the later genre of the picaresque novel.

Googling for “buttocks” in Gargantua and Pantagruel five-book series. I came across the tale of Han Carvel’s ring and the blazon and counterblazon of the bollocks in the Third Book. I first mentioned the poetic genre blason here when I posted the Blazon of the Ugly Tit[2] (1535) by Clément Marot.

Rabelais’s blason and contreblason du couillon (Eng blason and counterblason of the bollock(s)) respectively sing the praise and disparagement of the male testicles. First, there is Panurge’s blason in “How Panurge consulteth with Friar John of the Funnels“, then Frère Jean’s contreblason in “How Friar John comforteth Panurge in the doubtful matter of cuckoldry“.

These rhapsodic lists and enumerations of adjectives are extremely poetic juxtapositions and show how the novel, which was a genre in its nascent state was allowed a maximum of formal and content-wise liberties. In this sense, 16th century literature is quite amazing.

The c. is short for couillons (bollocks).

Panurge’s praise of the bollocks (275 adjectives):

Mellow C. Varnished C. Resolute C.

Lead-coloured C. Renowned C. Cabbage-like C.

Knurled C. Matted C. Courteous C.

Suborned C. Genitive C. Fertile C.

Desired C. Gigantal C. Whizzing C.

Stuffed C. Oval C. Neat C.

Speckled C. Claustral C. Common C.

Finely metalled C. Virile C. Brisk C.

Arabian-like C. Stayed C. Quick C.

Trussed-up Greyhound-like C. Massive C. Bearlike C.

Manual C. Partitional C.

Mounted C. Absolute C. Patronymic C.

Sleeked C. Well-set C. Cockney C.

Diapered C. Gemel C. Auromercuriated C.

Spotted C. Turkish C. Robust C.

Master C. Burning C. Appetizing C.

Seeded C. Thwacking C. Succourable C.

Lusty C. Urgent C. Redoubtable C.

Jupped C. Handsome C. Affable C.

Milked C. Prompt C. Memorable C.

Calfeted C. Fortunate C. Palpable C.

Raised C. Boxwood C. Barbable C.

Odd C. Latten C. Tragical C.

Steeled C. Unbridled C. Transpontine C.

Stale C. Hooked C. Digestive C.

full blason here

Frère Jean’s disparagement of the bollocks (440 adjectives):

Faded C. Louting C. Appellant C.

Mouldy C. Discouraged C. Swagging C.

Musty C. Surfeited C. Withered C.

Paltry C. Peevish C. Broken-reined C.

Senseless C. Translated C. Defective C.

Foundered C. Forlorn C. Crestfallen C.

Distempered C. Unsavoury C. Felled C.

Bewrayed C. Worm-eaten C. Fleeted C.

Inveigled C. Overtoiled C. Cloyed C.

Dangling C. Miserable C. Squeezed C.

Stupid C. Steeped C. Resty C.

Seedless C. Kneaded-with-cold- Pounded C.

Soaked C. water C. Loose C.

Coldish C. Hacked C. Fruitless C.

Pickled C. Flaggy C. Riven C.

Churned C. Scrubby C. Pursy C.

Filliped C. Drained C. Fusty C.

Singlefied C. Haled C. Jadish C.

Begrimed C. Lolling C. Fistulous C.

Wrinkled C. Drenched C. Languishing C.

Fainted C. Burst C. Maleficiated C.

Extenuated C. Stirred up C. Hectic C.

Grim C. Mitred C. Worn out C.

Wasted C. Peddlingly furnished Ill-favoured C.

Inflamed C. C. Duncified C.

full counterblason here

As I noted in a previous post[1] on satirical pornography or pornographic satire, Rabelais’s masterpiece Gargantua and Pantagruel is more emetic than erotic.

There is however a strain of eroticism to be found in Rabelais, a strain of the bawdy, ribald and burlesque variety, which dates back at its earliest to the Ancient Greek Milesian tale.

The Milesian tales are the earliest instances of erotic literature in the Western world. They directly influenced Apuleius‘ The Golden Ass, Petronius‘ Satyricon in antiquity. They were mentioned in Traitté de l’origine des romans. Aristidean saucy and disreputable heroes and spicy, fast-paced anecdote resurfaced in the medieval fabliaux. Chaucer’s The Miller’s Tale is in Aristides’ tradition, as are some of the saltier tales in Boccaccio’s Decameron or the Heptameron of Marguerite of Navarre and the later genre of the picaresque novel.

Googling for “buttocks” in Gargantua and Pantagruel five-book series. I came across the tale of Han Carvel’s ring and the blazon and counterblazon of the bollocks in the Third Book. I first mentioned the poetic genre blason here when I posted the Blazon of the Ugly Tit[2] (1535) by Clément Marot.

Rabelais’s Blason and contreblason du couillons (Eng blason and counterblason of the bollock) are two blasons which are featured in the Third Book of Gargantua and Pantagruel. First, there is Panurge’s blason in “How Panurge consulteth with Friar John of the Funnels“, then Frère Jean’s contreblason in “How Friar John comforteth Panurge in the doubtful matter of cuckoldry“.

These rhapsodic lists and enumerations of adjectives are extremely poetic juxtapositions and show how the novel, which was a genre in its nascent state was allowed a maximum of formal and essential liberties. In this sense, 16th century literature is quite amazing.

Panurge’s praise of the bollocks (275 adjectives)::

Mellow C. Varnished C. Resolute C.

Lead-coloured C. Renowned C. Cabbage-like C.

Knurled C. Matted C. Courteous C.

Suborned C. Genitive C. Fertile C.

Desired C. Gigantal C. Whizzing C.

Stuffed C. Oval C. Neat C.

Speckled C. Claustral C. Common C.

Finely metalled C. Virile C. Brisk C.

Arabian-like C. Stayed C. Quick C.

Trussed-up Greyhound-like C. Massive C. Bearlike C.

Manual C. Partitional C.

Mounted C. Absolute C. Patronymic C.

Sleeked C. Well-set C. Cockney C.

Diapered C. Gemel C. Auromercuriated C.

Spotted C. Turkish C. Robust C.

Master C. Burning C. Appetizing C.

Seeded C. Thwacking C. Succourable C.

Lusty C. Urgent C. Redoubtable C.

Jupped C. Handsome C. Affable C.

Milked C. Prompt C. Memorable C.

Calfeted C. Fortunate C. Palpable C.

Raised C. Boxwood C. Barbable C.

Odd C. Latten C. Tragical C.

Steeled C. Unbridled C. Transpontine C.

Stale C. Hooked C. Digestive C.

full blason here

Frère Jean’s disparagement of the bollocks (440 adjectives):

Faded C. Louting C. Appellant C.

Mouldy C. Discouraged C. Swagging C.

Musty C. Surfeited C. Withered C.

Paltry C. Peevish C. Broken-reined C.

Senseless C. Translated C. Defective C.

Foundered C. Forlorn C. Crestfallen C.

Distempered C. Unsavoury C. Felled C.

Bewrayed C. Worm-eaten C. Fleeted C.

Inveigled C. Overtoiled C. Cloyed C.

Dangling C. Miserable C. Squeezed C.

Stupid C. Steeped C. Resty C.

Seedless C. Kneaded-with-cold- Pounded C.

Soaked C. water C. Loose C.

Coldish C. Hacked C. Fruitless C.

Pickled C. Flaggy C. Riven C.

Churned C. Scrubby C. Pursy C.

Filliped C. Drained C. Fusty C.

Singlefied C. Haled C. Jadish C.

Begrimed C. Lolling C. Fistulous C.

Wrinkled C. Drenched C. Languishing C.

Fainted C. Burst C. Maleficiated C.

Extenuated C. Stirred up C. Hectic C.

Grim C. Mitred C. Worn out C.

Wasted C. Peddlingly furnished Ill-favoured C.

Inflamed C. C. Duncified C.

full counterblason here

Introducing Le Comte de Gabalis

Introducing Le Comte de Gabalis

Sourced via pierrepainblanc

I’ve just spent a good deal of hours researching Comte de Gabalis, a quest prompted by a new release on Creation Books‘ Creation Oneiros imprint and the reference I found there to occult fiction. Wikipedia has no entry on occult fiction but Googling them did bring up Gabalis.

I am not that a big a fan of occultism except when I find it represented in fiction, such as supernatural horror or le fantastique.

A recap of what I found:

The Comte De Gabalis is a 17th century grimoire (posing as a novel of ideas) by French writer Abbé N. de Montfaucon de Villars, first published anonymously in 1670. The book is dedicated to Rosicrucianis and Cabalism and based on Paracelsus’s four elementals: Gnomes, earth elementals; Undines; water elementals, Sylphs, air elementals and Salamanders, fire elementals. It is composed of five discourses given by a Count or spiritual master to the student or aspirant. The Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology by the Gale Group notes that the work may be a satire of the writings of la Calprenède, a popular French writer of the 17th century.

David Teniers the Younger. The Alchemist

It was also very pleasant to find and wikify elements in fiction:

Shakespeare’s plays abound in elemental beings including Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Ariel in The Tempest. Alexander Pope was influenced by the Comte de Gabalis in his Rosicrucian poem “Rape of the Lock.” Sylphs have been the favorites of the bards. The “Mahābhārata” is full of stories about beings of the elements and their heroic offspring with their human partners. Similar themes and references are found in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey in which the elemental beings appear as gods and goddesses such as the mighty Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, and Achilles, son of a mortal man and the goddess Nymph Thetis (see The Iliad by Robert Fagles, Penguin Classics, 1990). German writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué wrote about a beautiful water-nymph, “Undine,” and Sir Walter Scott endowed the White Lady of Avenel with many of the attributes of the nymphs. Other works or characters influenced include Lord Lytton’s Zanoni, James Barrie’s Tinker Bell; and the bowlers Rip Van Winkle encountered in the Catskill Mountains. The story of Melusina is based on the historical marriage of a gentleman and a water nymph. Charles Mackay, father of Marie Corelli, wrote “Salamandrine,” a poem about a great love between a human and a female salamander. Cabalism, in general, influenced many Mediaeval poems as well as the writings of Dante.

The most interesting aspect of The Comte De Gabalis is the sexual union of gods and mortals. I like half creatures and I like the sexual part of it. It was the work of the minor British publisher of  anthropologica Robert H. Fryar who most clearly brought this link to my attention by reprinting in the late 19th century the Comte de Gabalis with its tale of the immortalization of elementals through sexual intercourse with men and supplementing the work with long citations from the recently discovered Demoniality Or Incubi and Succubi[1], an eighteenth-century work by Father Sinistrari on the dangers of incubi and succubi.

Of a Fool, Who Thought His Wife Had Two Openings

Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini

I have a definite fondness for crude humour of the Middle Ages. The history of the genre was first documented in Italian scholar Poggio‘s Facetiae, a collection of humorous and indecent tales.

There is a presumably American 1930 private edition titled Facetia Erotica. Its full text can be found here.

It features such stories as Of a Fool, Who Thought His Wife Had Two Openings.

Facetiae, here published as Facetia Erotica. (source)

A peasant of our district, a stupid devil, who was utterly ignorant in matters of sex, got married. Thus it happened one night that his wife turned her back to him in bed, so that her buttocks rested in his lap. He had his weapon ready and landed by chance right in the goal. Marveling at his success, he inquired of his wife if she had two openings. And when she answered in the affirmative, he cried: “Hoho! I am content with but one; the second is entirely superfluous.” Upon which the sly woman, who was secretly consorting with the local priest, replied: “Then we can give the second away to charity. Let us grant it to the church and our priest.” The peasant, thinking to be relieved of an unnecessary burden, agreed [read the rest].

History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art by Thomas Wright, 1865

History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art by Thomas Wright, 1865

This volume is new to me, it has an interesting table of contents, there is a digitized version at Archive.org, but so poorly done it renders it as good as useless.

Introducing Mr.Fox: Darker Deeper

Introducing Mr.Fox: Darker Deeper

Mr.Fox: Darker Deeper[1][2] is an Anglophone visual culture blog with a focus on transgressive black and white photographs founded in May 2008.

As of May 2009, its most recent entries included Deus Irae Psychedelico[3], Robert Gregory Griffeth[4] , Rik Garrett[5] , Laurie Lipton[6] , Simon Marsden[7] , Sanne Sannes[8] , Jeffrey Silverthorne[9] , Edward Donato[10]

As of May 2009, the blog was connected with Blind Pony, EDK, Fetishart, Indie Nudes, Medieval Art, Morbid Anatomy, Ofellabuta, SensOtheque, With the ghost and Woolgathersome.

Jean Marembert, and, Icon of Erotic Art #41

Nude (c.1930) by Jean Marembert [source]

Icon of erotic art #41

Au carrefour étrange uncovered a 1947 edition of Petrus Borel’s Champavert [1] and presents us with the exceptional work of Jean Marembert.

Jean Marembert (1904-1968) was a French artist who is tangentially connected to such people as Louis Cattiaux, Jean Crotti, Suzanne Valadon, Kees Van Dongen, Paul Colin, Moise Kisling, Man Ray, Leonor Fini and Labisse. He exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries. His biography can be found in the 2004 book on figurative painting, Modern Figurative Paintings: The Paris Connection. Modern Figurative Paintings: The Paris Connection (2004) is a book by Martin Wolpert and Jeffrey Winter on modern figurative painting.

Modern Figurative Painters (2004) [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

From the blurb of Modern Figurative Paintings: The Paris Connection:

“The first half of the 19th Century spawned one of the most exciting concentrations of artists and artistic innovation in history. The French impressionists opened the door to creative freedoms never before experienced, and a community rich in artistic and intellectual talent coalesced to forever change the direction of art. This book documents more than 150 artists who worked, studied, and exhibited in Paris between 1890 and 1950. Many of them have been completely overlooked by scholars and art historians. Their work encompasses the La Belle Époque, Postimpressionist, Cubist, and School of Paris movements. More than 375 color images of their paintings document this fabulous cultural explosion, and also present a visual time capsule, showing the populace at work and at play in bars, cabarets, and jazz clubs, even scenes of the artists’ own studios. This book has been a labor of love; many years in the making. Collectors, curators, and historians will find it an invaluable tool for understanding the art of this period. By documenting artists who have not been written about for many years, the authors offer insight to their paintings, which can still be acquired at equitable prices.”

Artists in this book include Jean Crotti , Grigory Gluckmann, Louis Icart, Louis Legrand, André Lhote, Jean Marembert and Marie Vassilieff.

Nikolai Gogol @200

Nikolai Gogol @200

Poprishchin, protagonist of Nikolai Gogol’s “Diary of a Madman” painted by Ilya Repin

Nikolai Gogol will be 200 tomorrow morning (that’s the day after tomorrow, I skipped a day here). Like so many of us of the internet generation, we stumbled upon Gogol via Mario Bava’s Black Sunday.

He is an icon of 19th century literature, Russian literature, grotesque literature and fantastic literature.

“What an intelligent, queer, and sick creature!” –Ivan Turgenev

“I don’t know whether anyone liked Gogol exclusively as a human being. I don’t think so; it was, in fact, impossible. How can you love one whose body and spirit are recovering from self-inflicted torture?” –Sergei Aksakov

Gogol wrote in the literary tradition of E.T.A. Hoffmann (The Sandman) and Laurence Sterne (Tristram Shandy), often involving elements of the fantastic and grotesque. In addition, Gogol’s works are often outrageously funny. The mix of humor, social realism, the fantastic, and unusual prose forms are what readers love about his work.

Carlo Jacono @80 and Italian exploitation

Carlo Jacono @80 and Italian exploitation

An Italian translation of Malory by American author James Hadley Chase

Cover design by Carlo Jacono

Carlo Jacono (March 17, 1929 – June 7, 2000) was an Italian illustrator detective novel covers and regular contributor to Mondadori’s gialli and Urania magazine.

A digression into Italian exploitation.

My interest in regional exploitation or pulp culture is that what it tells about the region where it is produced. I am searching for national stereotypes by way of their exploitation culture; regional stereotypes deduced from regional fears and desires (horror and eroticism).

Italian exploitation culture is literature and films in the “low culture” tradition originating from Italy, cultural products which address the prurient interests of its audience. A quick glance at Italian society on the one hand, which its firm anchor in puritan Christianity, and its abundance on the other hand of graphic exploitation material, quickly reveals its double standards.

In print culture there has been giallo fiction, quickly followed by adult comics, the so-called fumetti neri.

But the nature of Italian prurience is most readily revealed in Italian cinema. Genres such as cannibal films, Italian erotica, Italian horror films, giallo films, mondo films, il sexy, spaghetti westerns, sword and sandal films all went a tad further than contemporary products of European exploitation.

Had it not for the world wide web, these maligned genres would probably not have been so widely known, but if you prefer reading books to the internet, here is a list of publications on European exploitation you may enjoy.

• British exploitation
  • Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan
• French exploitation
  • French Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Pulp Fiction (2000) – Jean-Marc Lofficier, Randy Lofficier
• German exploitation
• Italian exploitation
  • Psychopathia Sexualis in Italian Sinema (1968 – 1972)

Pierre Bourgeade III

Plexus (? – ?)

Plexus was a French language magazine, started under the auspices of Planète science fiction magazine to which the late Pierre Bourgeade contributed.

Planète (The Planet) was a French fantastic realism magazine created by Jacques Bergier and Louis Pauwels. It ran from 1961 to 1972.

See also: plexus, http://journaux-anciens.chapitre.com/PLEXUS.html