"Like a penniless rake who with kisses and bites
Tortures the breast of an old prostitute,
We steal as we pass by a clandestine pleasure
That we squeeze very hard like a dried up orange."
- goes back to my previous post about how some of us, or almost all of us get some sort of satisfaction from shame, from clandestine activity.
"He is Ennui! — His eye watery as though with tears,
He dreams of scaffolds as he smokes his hookah pipe.
You know him reader, that refined monster,
— Hypocritish reader, — my fellow, — my brother!"
- Baudelaire seems to consider that readers like himself detest no activity, no thoughts of any kind; to spice up life, readers need to "sin" in some way, in little or big ways. Maybe we can consider that the people who absolutely hate to be alone with themselves, who clutter up their days with TV or music blaring loudly, are those who 'sin' the most?
"Imp of the Perverse" ~ Poe - procrastination
any bad action he equates to a high, with very high and bad stakes, and the higher they are, the more "perversity" sets in .
Oddly enough the language he uses is equivalent to that of suicide...
The mentality of knowing not to do something and doing it anyway: ex. The TellTale Heart, the Cask of Amontillado.....
the idea that men are flaws from the beginning; the idea of Satan and/or man being in an innate sinner.
Alone poem ~ Poe
Talks about difference, even as a child, as if sensing man's innate capacity for sin: incapability of relating with emotions the same way (sadness, joy). So he takes inspiration not only from people but also from nature, strong images such as red cliffs, lightning, and storms. In the end "And the cloud that took the form (When the rest of Heaven was blue) Of a demon in my view —" : constant battle
between good and evil.
sensory overload against city life already full of sensory stimuli.
Reader /writer accomplice
Annabel Lee ~ Poe
Very creepy. I never read this poem in the context I am reading it now. You can really tell now that the relationship Annabel and the author has is wrong on some level; if at least because they were children. Can't be pedophilia because they're both kids. Maybe brother and sister? Interesting that Poe mentions the heavens, because they were jealous, "chilled and killed" his Annabel Lee. If their relationship was wrong, then that implies that the heavens too have some element of the perverse. Again we come on the idea of the boredom, the Ennui, The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,Went envying her and me —" So the pure sanctity of heaven though good, is boring.
nursery rhyme / fairy tale
I cannot Live with you ~ Dickinson
In this poem she really goes into the idea of both ends of the spectrum. She constantly makes allusions to opposites about how she and whoever she addresses in the poem ; about how they couldn't live up to expectations in their own way. This quote is very revealing.
"They'd judge Us – How – For You – served Heaven – You know, Or sought to – I could not – "
White sustenance Despair ; again an oxymoron. White is usually the color of purity. Yet, white can also be a blank page; an author's worst enemy. ex: Japan considers white to be sad.
Lolita excerpt ~ Nabokov
Just the beginning of the intro shows the complexity the opposite feelings warring in Humbert Humbert as regards Lolita. She is a woman yet a girl, she has many names, yet she is still Lolita to him. He uses Poe's poem "Annabel Lee" which signs the wrongness of the relationship. he uses oxymorons of words and concepts. ex: sin, soul, fire, light. "half pleasure half pain came over her childish features." Lolita started as a fantasy ; she is an ideal that Humbert wants, but we're not sure he truly gets ultimately.
fateful elf vs. nymphet. His own allusion to Lilith and Eve. nymphets eating rich food yet no acne. OXYMORON dreamy childishness and eerie vulgarity. Even about himself Humbert says slow boyish smile and yet cesspool or rotting monsters.
irony: his wife is Valeria and simply is a vague "copy" of a little girl; divorce was bound to happen
His game with the psychiatrists ; leading them on even after he had recovered. goes back to the sense that even when things are well, some human beings need to have some shame to have fun. Humbert longs for an explosion but he doesn't act on his instincts; he takes his time in the introduction.
Nabokov describes love affair with America. America is the young girl, Lolita, and he is the old Europe.
Humber is a neurotic and a pervert. (the latter he confesses, indulges in it, with charm and his actions in the story).
does prohibition necessitate desire? prohibition on child as someone who desires, or is desiring??....
Annabel Lee Lolita and Humbert Humbert
Freud
infanthood - polymorphous perversity NORMAL
attach sexuality to many things; free flowing
become perverse only when you enter societal world/norms
is pleasure perverse?
neurotic vs perverse - suppressed vs openly enjoyable
desire to confess to audience is perverse.
power of choice in perversion; like procrastination.
Suzanne Vega's Lolita
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XlvXgPHx1w
Literary Mixtape Humbert Humbert
http://flavorwire.com/139608/literary-mixtape-humbert-humbert
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