Because beauty is nothing but the terrible's beginning
(Rainer Maria Rilke, Duineser Elegy)



God grant that the visitor, emboldened and having become at present as fierce as what he is seeing, find, without loss of bearings, his way, his wild and treacherous passage through the desolate swamps of these sombre, poison-soaked pages; for, unless he should bring to his viewing a rigorous logic and a sustained mental effort at least as strong as his distrust, the lethal fumes of these works shall dissolve his soul as water does sugar. It is not right that everyone sees the images that follow; a sole few will savour this bitter fruit without danger. As a result, wavering soul, before penetrating further into such uncharted barrens, draw back, step no deeper.

(Variation on Lautréamont, Les Chants de Maldoror)









Would you kindly direct me to hell ?
(Dorothy Parker, Coda)