To be 1890 in 1890 might be considered almost normal. To be 1890 in 1922 might be considered almost queer.–Carl Van Vechten, quoted in Decadence and Catholicism Read more

“KUMARI LOVES A MONSTER: A romantic picture book of young girls who have fallen in love with monsters.” I especially like the sample page with the housework. And if you’d like a soundtrack, Sesame Street has you covered! Read more

Although the remark is witty and ironic, Wilde recognized the potential of beautiful performative acts, such as taking Communion, to determine the imaginative framework through which the world is perceived.—Decadence and Catholicism I like this b/c it reminds me of “The Snow Queen,” with the glass in Kay’s eye. (Want to know what the “remark” was? Read the book!) Read more

THIRD VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST: In which I am interviewed about Gay Catholic Whatnot. This is a two-page condensation of a phone interview which I remember as being almost two hours long, so it sort of jolts around a lot; also, for “intimate” read “infinite”! (Freudian slip?) You might check out the “outtakes” as well. The interviewer was really good at persistently tracking me to my lair and making me justify my assertions, although again, you don’t necessarily get... Read more

IMAGES OF FILM: DARKNESS. Read more

EVERY DAY IS SELF-PARODY DAY. So far in Decadence and Catholicism we have had three, count ’em three, figure skaters! Two young men for whom various people conceived homoerotic passions, and also Huysmans’s hagiography of St. Lydwina, skating’s patroness. I don’t even know anymore. My life is just a series of bad rhymes at this point. Read more

Through its incitement to androgyny and to the performance of gender roles presumed to be inappropriate to one’s anatomical sex, inversion is also figured [in Huysmans] as a subversion of nature in favor of text.—Decadence and Catholicism Interesting in itself; and also, forcing a separation of nature and text in this way seems to me to be the opposite approach from e.g. the theology of the body/”language of the body” approach. See also here. Read more

In the nineteenth century, an era steeped in the language of religious and Platonic eros, two men or–even less suspiciously–two women could sustain such a sexually ambiguous relationship with impunity. They might even regard the relationship as more intense because more pure, so to speak. Thus we find Edmond Lepelletier pointing to Letinois as evidence of Verlaine’s elevated affection for other men, rather than of his homosexuality. He even tries to desexualize Verlaine’s love for Rimbaud, but with no great... Read more

WHY WE LISTEN TO SAD MUSIC WHEN WE’RE SAD: …It’s counterintuitive, but Johnson’s story suggests that the desolation in Schostakovich’s music, resonating with the desolation in their hearts, served to bolster the spirits of the Russian populace at the time. The premise postulated by Johnson and neuroscientist Raymond Tallis, who co-hosted the event, is the oft-repeated idea that music, by conferring a narrative structure to emotion, brings emotion closer to thought. “There is something about seeing your own mood reflected... Read more

“HEIDEGGER’S INVOLVEMENT IN POLITICS IS VERY REGRETTABLE.” Ratty’s right; you must watch this. (Tons of cussin’ so be forewarned.) Read more