Tag Archives: Marquis de Sade

René Daumal and the Impossible

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Mark Kerstetter

I am reading René Daumal again. I discovered him as a young man and he has stayed with me, a constant companion. Since most people, places, and things come and go, one should note when something has lasted. I have … Continue reading →

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The most interesting book I read this year

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Mark Kerstetter

was published in 1979: The Sadeian Woman by Angela Carter. I’ve been a fan of hers ever since I stumbled upon a copy of The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman in a used bookstore many years ago. The Sadeian … Continue reading →

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Tarkovsky and Buñuel

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Mark Kerstetter

I’m new to the films of Tarkovsky, and have become obsessed with them. Yet with the peculiar itch typical of my mind my thoughts on his work keep slipping into thoughts on my favorite filmmaker, Luis Buñuel.

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Anger Is an Energy

Posted on July 3, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

Anger is an energy –John Lydon Once when I was going through a crisis I sought advice from an older friend. He told me, “Emotions are never wrong.” That may be a platitude (it sounds like one) but I had … Continue reading →

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Signaling Through Flames

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Mark Kerstetter

I’ve been reading the new Atlas edition of the internal papers of the Secret Society of Acéphale with lectures to the College of Sociology. The lectures and the articles from the Acéphale journal have been published before. The internal papers … Continue reading →

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If There Were a Heaven, It Would Stink with Life

Posted on March 8, 2017 by Mark Kerstetter

maledicta Paradisus in qua tantum cacatur! —William of Auvergne Blanchot wrote that Nietzsche was the first to teach us that, “if you begin to think, then you can hope for no rest.” [The Writing of the Disaster, p 123] And … Continue reading →

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Read, Pig!

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Mark Kerstetter

Once I saw the title, Think, Pig! I had to have Jean-Michel Rabaté’s book, published last year by Fordham University Press.

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Out of the Shadows with Maldoror

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Mark Kerstetter

Parle, et, puisque, d’après tes vœux les plus chers, l’on ne souffrirait pas, dis en quoi consisterait alors la vertu, idéal que chacun s’efforce d’atteindre, si ta langue est faite comme celle des autres hommes. —Lautréamont, Les Chants de Maldoror … Continue reading →

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