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December 18, 2008

Aragon Black Swan

This post now resides on my other site 50 Watts:

5 comments:

  1. I'm very intrigued and want to know too. I have no idea what the significance is, but I guess the Gentress may know, as she has a wonderful knowledge of all things Surrealist.

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  2. It is a crab on an anvil. The imageis from Lautreamont. It is from the flag of the bureau of surrealist research in amsterdam.

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  3. Thank you anonymous! I'll add that to the main post.

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  4. "The symbol is based on a passage from Lautreámont: 'Turn towards swan lake; and, I will tell you later why, there is among the flock one completely black, bearing an anvil, topped by the purifying cadaver of a crab, that inspires with good reason the mistrust of the other aquatic comrades.'"

    a slightly different translation here: http://books.google.com/books?id=PYwfvEUJqUUC&pg=PA271&lpg=PA271&dq=swan+lake+Lautre%C3%A1mont&source=bl&ots=7Y5Hwq2r1i&sig=Totb3uo63UDFVw-j5yZk4jfQr9A&hl=en&ei=zhvpStDbFae8tgOYy_zUCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=&f=false

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  5. Sweet.

    I first read Maldoror (Lykiard translation) at 17 as I slobbered through an awful Philly public high school. This probably explains my blog if not my entire life. (Always searching for another primal experience.) I re-read it sometime in my 20s. Both times I swore I would never do it again, but it might be time.

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