Erotika Biblion
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
| Revision as of 15:25, 16 April 2010 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) (→Ischa) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 15:26, 16 April 2010 Jahsonic (Talk | contribs) (→Ischa) Next diff → |
||
| Line 21: | Line 21: | ||
| The chapter treats the [[superiority of woman]], as compared to the status she was rewarded in previous centuries, during the ages of [[male chauvinism]]. | The chapter treats the [[superiority of woman]], as compared to the status she was rewarded in previous centuries, during the ages of [[male chauvinism]]. | ||
| - | The chapter opens with a reference to [[Marie Schurmann]], the first [[woman of letters]]. It mentions ''[[Femmes illustres]]'' by [[Boccacio]] and [[Hilarion Coste]], [[Johann Christian Wolf]] (''[[Catalogue des Femmes célèbres à la suite des Fragments des illustres Grecques qui ont écrit en prose]]''). | + | The chapter opens with a reference to [[Marie Schurmann]], the first [[woman of letters]]. It mentions ''[[De mulieribus claris]]'' by [[Boccacio]] and [[Hilarion Coste]], [[Johann Christian Wolf]] (''[[Catalogue des Femmes célèbres à la suite des Fragments des illustres Grecques qui ont écrit en prose]]''). |
| Mirabeau thinks [[Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi]]'s tract was inelegantly written. | Mirabeau thinks [[Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi]]'s tract was inelegantly written. | ||
Revision as of 15:26, 16 April 2010
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Erotika Biblion is a book by Comte de Mirabeau first published pseudonymously (a Rome, de l'Imprimerie du Vatican) in 1783. The biblion in the title refers to the bible.
The book laments the fact that during its translation, the sexual practices dating from Antiquity related in the Old Testament were translated using euphemistic language. It also treats the concept of elective affinities, bible studies and bible translation, effluvia, sympathism; and mentions the obscure 17th century astronomer Jeremy Shakerley.
Henry Marchand in The Erotic History of France calls it one of "the strangest books ever written." Marchand further notes that "the whole edition of this work was confiscated immediately so that only fourteen copies of it are extant today. It was naturally placed on the Index, too, under the title of Amatoria Bibliorum. Subsequent editions met the same fate but the book has reproduced itself."
A comparatively modern edition of the Erotika Biblion, with a bibliography and a reliable text edited by Guillaume Apollinaire, was published at Paris, 1910, by the Bibliothèque des Curieux.
Contents |
Writing
The book was written during the imprisonment of Mirabeau at the donjon de Vincennes between May 14 1777 and June 8 1780 while another prisoner, the Marquis de Sade was incarcerated there between January 14 1777, see Marquis de Sade and Comte de Mirabeau.
Chapter headings — with their paraphrased meanings
Ischa
Ischa, the title of the chapter is perhaps a reference to A'isha (Arabic: عائشة) is an Arabic female given name that means "she who lives". Other transliterations include Aisha, Ayşe, Aiša, Ajša, Aïcha, Ayesha, 'A'isha, 'Aisha, `ā'isha or Aishah'.
The chapter treats the superiority of woman, as compared to the status she was rewarded in previous centuries, during the ages of male chauvinism.
The chapter opens with a reference to Marie Schurmann, the first woman of letters. It mentions De mulieribus claris by Boccacio and Hilarion Coste, Johann Christian Wolf (Catalogue des Femmes célèbres à la suite des Fragments des illustres Grecques qui ont écrit en prose).
Mirabeau thinks Modesta di Pozzo di Forzi's tract was inelegantly written.
Tropoide
Thalabe
Thalabe, or concerning male homosexuality masturbation.
Anandrine
Anandrine, or concerning lesbianism and tribadism.
Akripoidie
Akripoidie, or concerning circumcision.
Kadesch
Kadesch, or concerning unnatural unchastity.
Behemao
Behemao, or concerning unchastity with animals.
Leguanmanie
Leguanmanie, or views about orgasm and divers notes about prostitution.
On elective affinities and sympathism
- "Chaque corps a ses émanations; elles sont en pure perte sur la terre : dans l'anneau, elles formaient une atmosphère toujours agissante à des distances considérables; et ces émanations, dont Shackerley n'a pu donner une idée qu'en les comparant à ces atomes qu'on distingue à l'aide du rayon solaire introduit dans la chambre obscure, ces émanations, dis- je, répondaient à toutes les houppes nerveuses du sentiment de l'individu. Semblables aux étamines des plantes, aux affinités chimiques, elles s'enlaçaient dans les manations d'un autre individu, lorsque la sympathie s'y rencontrait;ce qui, comme on peut aisément le concevoir, multipliait à l'infini des sensations dont nous ne pouvons nous former qu'une image très-infidèle. Elles rendaient, par exemple, les jouissances de deux amants semblables à celles d'Alphée, qui, pour jouir d'Arétbuse que Diane venait de changer en fontaine, se métamorphosa en fleuve, afin de s'unir plus intimement à son amante, en mêlant ses ondes avec les siennes.
- "An idea inspired by the same sympathist theory [of Tiphaigne] can be found in a fable in Mirabeau's Erotika Biblion. In it, every inhabitant of the rings of Saturn exhaled his own specific effluvia, which were directly linked to the "nervous buds of perception." These emanations could intertwine in other people's effluvia, producing "live cohesion" of two beings by innumerable similar molecules. In the rings of Saturn, both knowledge and feelings were transmitted through the air" --The Foul and the Fragrant: Odor and the French Social Imagination
Anandrine
- "l'Anandrine sert de pendant honteux du Thalaba, et nous représente, dans la femme, l'épouvantable vice qu'il a critiqué dans l'homme. Il nous fait voir dans quel degré d'abjection peut tomber un sexe aimable, si bien fait pour plaire, lorsqu'il a franchi les bornes de la pudeur."--Erotika Biblion (full text)
Shelley and the "Erotika Biblion"
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
There is dispute among Shelley connoisseurs whether Shelley referred to Mirabeau (the author of Erotika Biblion or Mirabaud (The System of Nature).
- "I must further allow that in common with Shelley himself, as admitted by Mr. BATES, I confounded the Mirabeau with Mirabaud, never having heard of the latter before, while I had always understood Erotika Biblion to have been the production of the former." (Notes and Queries.)
The confusion was also due to the description on the Index :
"Erotika Biblion. Id est: Amatoria Bibliorum. 'Ec Kaipt 'E/carrjpoi/. Abstrusum excudit. Derniere Edition a Paris, chez le Jay, Libraire, rue Neuve des Petita Champs, pies celle de Richelieu, au grand Corneille. n. 146; 1792. Sine nomine Auctoris, qui tamen in Prcefatione extremes huic editioni prfemissd, fuisse dicitur Mirabeau, nempe Auctor impii ac jamdudum proscripti Operis, cui titulus, Svsteme de la Nature, ementito Mirabeau nomine editi. (Deer. 2 Julii, 1804)."
" Systeme de la Nature, ou des Lois du Monde Physique er du Monde Moral, par Mirabaud (ementihim nomen). (Deer. 9 Nov. 1770.)" (Notes and Queries.)
See also
- Erotika Biblion Society
- Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy
- Biblical eroticism
- French bible
- Letter concerning the Erotika Biblion
- Guillaume Apollinaire's preface to Erotika Biblion
- Erotika Biblion (full text)
