A somewhat off-topic, but I hope not too annoying, request of the P-Listers

[Emma Wrigley]

Despite my PList silence, I read everything and even think about stuff!
This is very interesting Mark and will definitely follow it.
<-----Original Message-----> 
>From: Mark Thibodeau [jerkyleboeuf at gmail.com]
>Sent: 23/6/2014 8:04:20 AM
>To: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: A somewhat off-topic, but I hope not too annoying, request
of the 
>P-Listers
>
>On one of my recent used book store forages, I came across a wonderful
>paperback edition of Joris-Karl Huysmans' relatively neglected novel,
>"La Bas" - usually translated as "The Damned", but in this case as the
>more accurate if somewhat lurid "Down There" - a fictional account of
>the exploits of late 19th century Satanists in Paris and environs, a
>large portion of the narrative of which is concerned with the exploits
>of Joan of Arc's child-butchering compatriot, Gilles de Rais.
>
>Now, what made this particular edition so special, in my opinion, is
>that it was part of something called "The Dennis Wheatley Library of
>the Occult". It is, in fact, the 30th entry in that oh-so-1970's
>collection, which includes alongside such obvious works as "Dracula"
>and "Frankenstein" and Goethe's "Faust" such neglected gems as
>Aleister Crowley's "Moonchild", Jack Williamson's "Darker Than You
>Think" and, of course, the Huysmans.
>
>Now, I don't often pester the P-List with stuff about my own websites
>and blogs, past or present. Some of you may know of The Daily Dirt,
>which I wrote between Feb 1999 and Nov 2006, and which at one time had
>readership numbers that would make most magazines drool with envy, but
>which was also tainted by the presence of grotesque pornographic ads
>not of my choosing - kind of self-destructive, career-wise, but hey,
>nobody else was paying me good money to write, so I figured, why the
>hell not? But I digress.
>
>Anyway, one of my current websites is ParacultuREview.com. It's main
>interest is, as the name points out, what I refer to as "paraculture".
>This includes such topics as parapolitics (assassinations,
>conspiracies, secret societies, narco-politics, etc) as well as any
>obviously non-mainstream, but still powerful and affecting, works of
>art - writing, films, music, graphic novels, etc. These are the
>domains I try to explore in my sites, and the chaotic jumble of kooky
>characters and aberrant ideas bundled under the moniker of "the
>occult" is one such domain. Pynchon fits in there quite snugly, by the
>way, and I think we might very well share a few peccadilloes. And I'm
>also pretty sure a lot of people on this LIST share my interest. Which
>brings me to the point of this overlong message...
>
>Basically, I'm thinking of putting together a "virtual" type occult
>canon called "The ParacultuREview Library of the Occult" for my
>website. Obviously, I'm not going to be hunting down the publishing
>rights and reprinting physical copies. But we can still make the list,
>as a fun little exercise (and as a way to expose people to some cool
>stuff that they might not otherwise have heard about).
>
>Of course, no list can ever be definitive - and what gets left off
>such lists is often more telling than what gets included. But if all
>we get from creating such a list is a great jumping-off point for
>discussions or arguments, then so be it.
>
>So I guess I'm gonna go ahead and appoint myself as the "list
>wrangler" in this case. If any of you P-Listers would like to make
>some suggestions for my list - even going so far as to explain why you
>feel a certain book is worthy of inclusion - I would be stoked,
>because quite frankly, y'all are some of the smartest people I know.
>So please, feel free email me at this address if you're interested in
>helping out, and I'll make sure all interested parties are kept in
>touch
>
>Oh, and just to be clear, I will NOT be bugging the P-List over this
>Occult Library thing again, and I apologize if this is way out of line
>on my part.
>
>Now, to start things off, I would like to get the ball rolling with a
>handful of works that I think would be absolutely essential to a 21st
>century undertaking of this nature...
>
>MORNING OF THE MAGICIANS, by Pauwels and Bergier (1960)
>An intriguing, occasionally frustrating, but almost always
>entertaining book, this is the one that pretty much kick-started the
>New Age, giving name and substance to a number of movements that had
>been forming since the end of the second world war. The high standing
>of Tolkien and Lovecraft in Europe can be traced pretty much directly
>to this publication and the series it spawned (PLANETE, a sort of
>proto-OMNI that was also, in its day, hugely influential).
>
>THE OCCULT UNDERGROUND / THE OCCULT ESTABLISHMENT, by James Webb (1972
/ 1976)
>Presented as a one-two punch, this sober and scholarly study of the
>subject of "rejected knowledge" works best when presented in tandem, I
>think, most especially because of the direction of Webb's evolution in
>his appreciation of the topic.
>
>THE SONGS OF MALDOROR, by the Comte de Lautreamont (aka Isidore
Ducasse) (1868)
>Hugely influential yet little known outside certain circles today,
>this unabashedly "Satanic" poetic/prose novel consists of six cantos
>in which all manner of evil, debauchery and devilry ensue,
>occasionally giving even de Sade a run for his money in terms of
>sadistic vileness. And yet, it remains a work of rare beauty
>(especially in the original French). Artists Dalí, Breton, Artaud,
>Duchamp, Man Ray and Max Ernst have all cited Maldoror as a major
>inspiration and it is definitely an occult masterpiece, and deserves
>to be in our library (preferably in one of its illustrated editions).
>
>So... you guys got any more nominees? Come on! Let's play!
>
>YOPJerky
>-
>Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=nchon-l
>.
> 
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