Dark Star : The Satanic Rites of Gilles de Rais

by Bataille, Georges

• ISBN13: 9781840681154
• ISBN10: 1840681152
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-03-30
• Publisher: Scb Distributors

Summary

The spectre of Gilles de Rais, satanist and child-killer, eclipses French history like a dark star. A fallen general, once the champion of Jeanne d'Arc, de Rais' riches and experimentations led him to the very gates of hell. Dark Star is a testament to the enduring legend of Gilles de Rais and his mythic alter-ego, Barbe-Bleue, and the way in which the two have fused in the popular imagination. With quotations, essays and fiction from some of the most fertile imaginations of the last centuries, this is a rich evocation of the satanic allure of this mass murderer.

Table of Contents

Introduction	5	(4)
Quotations	9	(6)
Part One
Bluebeard	15	(5)
Charles Perrault
La-Bas	20	(31)
J-K Huysmans
Tragedy In Blue	51	(52)
Richard Thoma
Gilles de Rais	103	(38)
Blaise Cendrars
The Bloody Countess	141	(14)
Valentine Penrose
The Bloody Chamber	155	(36)
Angela Carter
Raism	191	(26)
James Havoc
Part Two
``Gilles de Rais''	217	(2)
Georges Bataille
``Sexual Life -- War''	219	(4)
Georges Bataille
``Sexual Life -- the Child Murders''	223	(4)
Georges Bataille
``From Gilles de Rais to Bluebeard''	227	(6)
Matei Cazacu
``The Passions of Gilles de Rais''	233	(4)
Philippe Reliquet
``Alchemy in the Time of Gilles de Rais''	237	(6)
Sylvain Matton
``The Mystery of Orl eans''	243	(6)
Michel Rousse
``De Rais: Reality and Appearance''	249	(8)
Odile Blane
``Princely Tables of the 15th Century''	257
Odile Redon
Appendix
i) The Confessions of Gilles de Rais	10
ii) A Chronology of Gilles de Rais	5
iii) Key figures in the entourage of Gilles de Rais	10
iv) Key sites in the life of Gilles de Rais	288