Arp 2005

« Le sujet de la pièce est très simple : le paquebot Lyncée fait naufrage sur les côtes de l’Afrique tropicale ; accueillis généreusement par le souverain du pays, alors en lutte contre une tribu ennemie, les passagers, parmi lesquels se trouvent les membres d’une grande troupe de phénomènes genre Barnum, préparent une série d’attractions pour les fêtes du couronnement, qui aura lieu lorsque l’empereur du Ponukélé, leur hôte, aura annexé le royaume du Drelschkaff son rival. Au dernier acte on verra ce souverain, Talou VII, revêtu d’un manteau de gala représentant une carte d’Afrique, présider la cérémonie du sacre, qui se deroule sur la grande place de sa capitale, Ejur, entourée pour la circonstance de palissades dont chaque pieu supporte une tête coupée. Auparavant, le spectateur aura assisté aux répétitions de tous les numéros préparés par les passagers, à l’exhibition de tous les phénomènes, ainsi qu’a quelques intrigues de cour et différents supplices, d’une cruauté plus que raffinée, infligés à une poignée de traitres.

Parmi les inventions présentées, figure la fameuse « statue en baleines de corset roulant sur de rails en mou de veau » qui longtemps défraya la chronique et, parmi les tortures, celle qui consiste à graver au fer rouge, sur la plante des pieds d’un faussaire, le exte entier du document incriminé.

Outre ce qu’il y a d’absolument génial dans de telles constructions poétiques, l’œuvre de Raymond Roussel – sans que l’auteur l’ait sciemment cherché – offre le double intérêt de présenter : d’une part une Afrique telle, à peu de chose prés, que nous pouvions la concevoir dans notre imagination d’enfants blancs, d’autre part, une Europe de phénomènes et d’inventions abracadabrantes telle que peut-être elle se trouve figurée dans l’esprit de ceux que nous nommons avec dédain des « primitifs » (M. Leiris – L’Œil de l’Ethnographe – A propos de la Mission Dakar-Djibouti)

Thiers 2009

« Si le pirate Blanc apprend qu’une Cléopâtre noire vient d’avaler une perle, il fait venir la reine et, bien qu’il ait interdit aux religions les sacrifices sanglantes, il lui ouvre le ventre pour retirer l’objet précieux de ses entrailles fumantes » (Georges Limbour – Eschyle, le Carnaval et les Civilisés)

Bataille 2009

A Rainha de Saba visita Salomão em Jerusalém. (Ver a lenda incluindo a Serpente-Rei e Agabos) A Rainha de Sabá ao visitar o esqueleto da serpente que o seu pai (Agabos) matou é picada no pé por um osso. Um servo limpa-lhe a ferida.

A rainha durante a viagem é protegida por um dai vermelho (baldaquino) símbolo de autoridade suprema. O Copo de Água.

Kathleen Ferrier 2006

« Six carrosses couvertes de drap rouge, occupés chacun par un porc vivant, sont placées sur le sommet de la montagne. Derrière les chars sont attachés les treize taureaux. Les divertissements finis, la foule se presse haletante, attend, s’impatiente.

Tout finit en un instant. Les carrosses dégringolent la montagne « se précipitent avec un tel ravage qu’il semble que le monde entier le subit » (li sei carozzi erano lassate andare giù del monte con tanta ruina che pareva ch’el mondo subissasse).

En même temps s’élancent les taureaux, excités par la colleur rouge des carrosses. Aveuglés de fureur, ils bondissent derrière, se jettent dans le vide, puis s’écrasent sur un rocher, en se mêlant aux débris des porcs et des carrosses qui les ont précédés. En un clin d’œil mille lances s’enfoncent dans cette masse saignante, «dans une montagne de jambes en l’air». (un monte con le gambe alla roverse). (Zdenko Reich – Le Massacre des Porcs)

Reynaud 2004

A TOUS LES FRANÇAIS

« La France a perdu une bataille !

Mais la France n’a pas perdu la guerre !

Des gouvernements de rencontre ont pu capituler, cédant à la panique, oubliant l’honneur, livrant le pays à la servitude. Cependant, rien n’est perdu !

Rien n’est perdu, parce que cette guerre est une guerre mondiale. Dans l’univers libre, des forces immenses n’ont pas encore donné. Un jour ces forces écraseront l’ennemi. Il faut que la France, ce jour-la, soit présente à la victoire. Alors, elle retrouvera sa liberté et sa grandeur. Tel est mon but, mon seul but !

Voila pourquoi je convie tous les Français, où qu’ils se trouvent, à s’unir à moi dans l’action, dans le sacrifice et dans l’espérance.

Notre patrie est en peril de mort.

Luttons tous pour la sauver !

VIVE LA FRANCE

(De Gaulle)

Enkidu 2008

'I used to pretend I was someone quite mysterious and fascinating. Then I grew up and realized I was mysterious and fascinating' --Sally Bowles (in Cabaret)

Walser 2009

26. Great is the power of memory. It is a true marvel, O my God, a profound and infinite multiplicity! And this is the mind, and this I myself am. What, then, am I, O my God? Of what nature am I? A life various, and manifold, and exceedingly vast. Behold in the numberless halls and caves, in the innumerable fields and dens and caverns of my memory, full without measure of numberless kinds of things--present there either through images as all bodies are; or present in the things themselves as are our thoughts; or by some notion or observation as our emotions are, which the memory retains even though the mind feels them no longer, as long as whatever is in the memory is also in the mind--through all these I run and fly to and fro. I penetrate into them on this side and that as far as I can and yet there is nowhere any end.

So great is the power of memory, so great the power of life in man whose life is mortal! What, then, shall I do, O thou my true life, my God? I will pass even beyond this power of mine that is called memory--I will pass beyond it, that I may come to thee, O lovely Light. And what art thou saying to me? See, I soar by my mind toward thee, who remainest above me. I will also pass beyond this power of mine that is called memory, desiring to reach thee where thou canst be reached, and wishing to cleave to thee where it is possible to cleave to thee. For even beasts and birds possess memory, or else they could never find their lairs and nests again, nor display many other things they know and do by habit. Indeed, they could not even form their habits except by their memories. I will therefore pass even beyond memory that I may reach Him who has differentiated me from the four-footed beasts and the fowls of the air by making me a wiser creature. Thus I will pass beyond memory; but where shall I find thee, who art the true Good and the steadfast Sweetness? But where shall I find thee? If I find thee without memory, then I shall have no memory of thee; and how could I find thee at all, if I do not remember thee? - Saint Augustine Confessions

Baffin 2007

6th.—Have been beset all day by natives. They pull the blossoms of the red gum tree (now in flower), steep them in water, and drink the water, which acquires a taste like sugar and water by this process. Some came here, bringing a young kangaroo dog of a fine breed. I had often (in my own mind) contemplated poisoning him. To my surprise, the natives called my attention suddenly to the dog, when I saw that some one had been beforehand with me. I told them all manner of stories about our dogs going mad, and that their bite was then fatal. They were greatly alarmed. I put my hand cautiously over his mouth, put him into the boat, and carried him to the other side of the river, where he soon died. They thought a snake had bit him. In the evening, there was a crying of natives at a distance. I ran with Weeip and some others to see. A number of strangers had arrived; the child of one had died, and they must have some spearing match about it. I begged them not to throw spears, but it appeared to be a very friendly or ceremonious transaction—some spears having been thrown harmlessly. After a little, it was mentioned to the owner of the dog that it had died—that his dog was dead by the bite of a snake. He had not been at my place before during the day, and had not heard of it till then. Instantly, there was a change of scene—he and his brother seized their spears, and seemed about to commence in good earnest, when others threw their arms round them and held them with difficulty. Angry feeling seemed to spread among them: the vengeance of these two seemed directed against a woman, whose husband was held also. When I left them, one of the natives was walking round and round this woman, while two had placed themselves on either side of her, and walked round in a circle, so as to keep one still between his spear and her. It was a strange sight. I asked Weeip what it meant. He said the owner was a little angry, and he would only spear her a little on the lower part of the leg. I have heard their voices very loud ever since. They will have troubled rest. All parties seemed to look upon me as a friend—though I confess I felt a little afraid at one time when they began to pronounce my name with great vehemence; it was in asserting that I had seen the dog die of snake bite. I held Mauli for a while, when he first snatched his spear, till another came to the rescue. One part of the scene was singular—the mother of the child that had died clung to the knees of one old man and uttered a long weeping recitative, while he stood apparently unmoved; at other times she threw herself on the bosom of another and wept out the same sort of droning song, which, from some detached words I caught, reminds me of the Irish keen, as a sort of address to the departed. It is ringing in my ears even now, while I write, at the distance of half a mile from them. - Diary of ten years eventful life of an early settler in Western Australia by George Fletcher Moore

Lash 2008

I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to (Nico)

Auerbach 2008

Ein echter deutscher Mann mag keinen Franzen leiden,
Doch ihre Weine trinkt er gern. - Mephisto (Goethe Faust I. Teil)

Rousseau 2008

Villard de Honnecourt, in his 1230s sketchbook, show plans for animal automata and an angel that perpetually turns to face the sun.

Klossowski 2006

“il est delicieux, dans une infinite solitude au bord de la mer, sous un ciel brouillé, de porter son regard dans un désert d’eau sans limites. Encore faut-il être là-bas, et être devenu, alors que l’on voudrait passer de l’autre côté et qu’on ne ele peut pás, que lón est depourvu de tout pour vivre et que l’on perçoit neanmois la voix de cette vie dans les grondements des flots, le souffle de l’air, le passage dês nuages, le cri solitaire des oiseaux. Mais il faut pour cela une exigence de coeur, et cette dechirure, au plus profond de soi, que provoque la nature (…) Oui, si l’on peignait ce paysage avec se propre craie, avec sa propre eau, on pourrait, je crois, par la, pousser les renards et les loups à hurler.” Kleist, sur Caspar David Friedrich

Dias Loureiro 2008

"Não tenho culpa de ter nascido em Portugal, e exijo uma Pátria que me mereça" - Almada

Klopstock 2008

It is quite untrue that British people don't appreciate music. They may not understand it but they absolutely love the noise it makes. - Sir Thomas Beecham

Rothenberger 2007

Beecham helped Walter Legge underwrite the creation of the Philarmonia Orchestra, and conducted its premiere concert on 25 October, 1945. Later, Legge raised the matter of Beecham's fee, to which he replied: "The privilege of directing this magnificent consort of artists is such that my pleasure would be diminished if I accepted a fee. I would, however, gladly accept a decent cigar"

Jurinac 2007

I have always enjoyed dealing with a slightly surrealistic situation and presenting it in a realistic manner. I've always liked fairy tales and myths, magical stories. I think they are somehow closer to the sense of reality one feels today than the equally stylized "realistic" story in which a great deal of selectivity and omission has to occur in order to preserve its "realist" style. - Stanley Kubrick

Koeman 2008

Magic is not science, it is a collection of ways to do things — ways that work but often we don't know why.

~ Robert A. Heinlein ~
in Glory Road

Björn Andrésen 2008

The demons are innumerable, arrive at the most inappropriate times and create panic and terror... but I have learned that if I can master the negative forces and harness them to my chariot, then they can work to my advantage.... Lilies often grow out of carcasses' arseholes.- Ingmar Bergman

McNamara 2009

The Natural History Museum is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays. Elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus; extraordinary animals! Rubens rendered them marvellously. I had a feeling of happiness as soon as I entered the place and the further I went the stronger it grew. I felt my whole being rise above commonplaces and trivialities and the petty worries of my daily life.- Delacroix (diário)

Hinojosa 2008

La vida es ciervo herido,
que las flechas le dan alas.
- Luis de Gongora