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

[Mark Thibodeau]

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
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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l