9 h 17 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a poem warns you to turn back, then draws you deeper into its nightmares?
The Songs of Maldoror by Comte de Lautréamont is a long prose poem in six cantos. Its central figure, Maldoror, chooses cruelty and curses God, humankind and himself. From the opening warning to the reader, the voice speaks straight to you, mixing violent images with black humor and moments of sudden tenderness.
The first canto challenges you to continue; the second and third widen Maldoror’s quarrel with the Creator. Animals and transformations crowd these nightmares. The fourth and fifth cantos turn toward reason, doubt and the poet’s own nature, while the sixth takes on the shape of a short novel. Do not expect a steady plot: this poem keeps changing its ground.
What you’ll discover
- A warning at the threshold Meet a voice that calls its pages poisonous and challenges you to read on.
- Heaven and earth clash Enter scenes where Maldoror’s quarrel with the Creator grows into a wider confrontation.
- Animals fill the darkness Encounter dogs, birds, fish and insects, alongside stranger beasts and Maldoror’s own transformations.
- Cruelty meets sudden tenderness Feel the uneasy shifts between violent images, black humor and unexpected moments of tenderness.
- The Romantic hero unsettled Discover a poem that is also a parody, with nightmares in place of comfort.
Who will love it
You will love it if you enjoy daring, strange poetry, the roots of surrealism, Gothic nightmares, and writing that treats the page as a stage for rebellion, comedy and wild invention.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The book warns you before it begins
- Maldoror begins good and chooses cruelty
- The ocean becomes a mirror for mankind
- A quiet family meets the stranger at the door
- Cemeteries, toads and the cry of the grave
- Song two attacks cruelty in crowds and gods
- Song three turns myth into nightmare
- Song four argues with the reader
- The poet keeps changing shape
Who’s who
- MaldororThe dark hero, born cruel by his own account, who cannot laugh and wages a lifelong war on humanity and its Creator.
- MervynA sixteen year old English boy in Paris who is followed, written to and drawn toward a meeting with the stranger.
- AghoneA madman Maldoror finds on a bench, dresses well and crowns king of minds, then uses as a loyal servant.
- ÉdouardA child in a happy family who refuses the stranger's offers of palaces and rings, and clings to his mother.
- The CreatorThe Almighty, shown by the poet as cruel, sly, or drunk, and the chief enemy of Maldoror.
- FalmerA fourteen year old friend whose memory haunts the poet with guilt and shame.
Formats and delivery
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- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read today.
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Songs of Maldoror
by Comte de Lautréamont · 1869
A masked wanderer cuts his own mouth to learn how to laugh and wages war on God and humanity.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
A young man slices open the corners of his own mouth to learn how to laugh, and fails. That is Maldoror, the dark hero of this prose poem by Comte de Lautréamont, a pen name.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The book warns you before it begins
The first song opens with a warning to the reader. The poet says what follows is poisonous and only a few can eat this bitter fruit safely. Timid souls should turn back, and he compares them to cranes that change course before a storm.
The warning is also a dare. He promises logic and a strong mind will be needed, then mocks the reader as a monster who will enjoy the fumes anyway. From the first page the voice teases, threatens and flatters in turn, and it never lets you settle.
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Details
- First published
- 1869
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
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What is The Songs of Maldoror about?
It follows Maldoror, a figure who declares war on humanity and God. Six songs of hymns, nightmares, satire and short tales show his cruelty and his odd tenderness, ending with a short novel set in Paris.
Who wrote The Songs of Maldoror and who was Lautréamont?
Comte de Lautréamont writes in a voice that shifts between confession, attack and playful argument with the reader.
Is The Songs of Maldoror a novel or a poem?
It is a prose poem in six songs, also called cantos. The early songs are loose and lyrical, and the sixth song turns toward a plot about a boy named Mervyn, so the form shifts as you read.
The author
Comte de Lautréamont
1846–1870 · Uruguayan-born French poet
Comte de Lautréamont was the pen name of Isidore Ducasse, a French poet born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1846. He studied in France and later lived in Paris. He published The Songs of Maldoror in 1869 and Poésies in 1870. He died in Paris in 1870, aged twenty-four.
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