jhouis

Click the title link below for the PDF of the novel:

The Comic RomancePaul Scarron’s masterpiece, The Comic Romance, recounts the adventures of a troupe of provincial itinerant actors, skilfully weaving comic anecdotes of their amorous exploits and the central love story between Léandre and his beloved Angélique into a rich and realistic tapestry depicting rural France.

A milestone of picaresque literature, The Comic Romance spawned countless imitations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was championed in the nineteenth century by eminent literary figures such as Théophile Gautier and Gérard de Nerval.

________

‘Paul Scarron is the Homer of the school of buffoonery.’ Théophile Gautier

‘Jacques Houis’s lively new translation conveys the energy and vitality of Scarron’s original… a welcome revival of a comic classic.’ Times Literary Supplement

Despite
the crushed ankles
you crossed the heat curtain
despite the cerebral
scree despite the freeway the bishop the secretary of state
you crossed the heat curtain
my lover clipper ship
your risen loins ready the reopening
of the Ball of Burning Men

you crossed the heat curtain
recidivist clandestine passenger
the obstructing wall of yapping ulcers
of fanatical black flies
and now you are going to flower inside
me gliding there arms around the earth
like a great heraldic animal
licking the blazon’s abrasion

behind the heat curtain
Penelope’s solitary pleasure-pain
weaving with saliva suddenly
the man jumped from a moving truck
and entered the lavender path
his head bare the heat deadened him
he stopped fascinated it seemed
like a Book was eating him
but he crossed the heat curtain

Rideau de chaleur

Malgré
les chevilles broyées
tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
malgré les éboulis
cérébraux malgré l’autoroute l’évêque le ministre
tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
mon amant voilier de haut bord
tes reins ressuscités s’apprêtent
à rouvrir le Bal des Ardents

tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
passager clandestin récidiviste
le mur interférant d’ulcères glapissants
de mouches d’août fanatiques
et maintenant tu vas fleurir dedans
moi y planer bras autour de la terre
comme un grand animal héraldique
léchant l’écorchure du blason

derrière le rideau de chaleur
plaisir-douleur solitaire de Pénélope
tissant à la salive soudain
l’homme sauta d’un camion en marche
et s’engagea par la sente lavande
tête nue la chaleur l’assourdit
il s’immobilisa fasciné on eût dit
qu’un livre le mangeait
mais il franchit le rideau de chaleur

Patrick Mac’Avoy (1960s)

Jacques Houis: The Millerton Mission

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Author: jhouis

THE COMIC ROMANCE by Paul Scarron, Trans. by Jacques Houis

Click the title link below for the PDF of the novel:

A milestone of picaresque literature, The Comic Romance spawned countless imitations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was championed in the nineteenth century by eminent literary figures such as Théophile Gautier and Gérard de Nerval.

________

‘Paul Scarron is the Homer of the school of buffoonery.’ Théophile Gautier

‘Jacques Houis’s lively new translation conveys the energy and vitality of Scarron’s original… a welcome revival of a comic classic.’ Times Literary Supplement

THE HEAT CURTAIN by Patrick Mac’Avoy, Trans. by Jacques Houis

Despite
the crushed ankles
you crossed the heat curtain
despite the cerebral
scree despite the freeway the bishop the secretary of state
you crossed the heat curtain
my lover clipper ship
your risen loins ready the reopening
of the Ball of Burning Men

you crossed the heat curtain
recidivist clandestine passenger
the obstructing wall of yapping ulcers
of fanatical black flies
and now you are going to flower inside
me gliding there arms around the earth
like a great heraldic animal
licking the blazon’s abrasion

behind the heat curtain
Penelope’s solitary pleasure-pain
weaving with saliva suddenly
the man jumped from a moving truck
and entered the lavender path
his head bare the heat deadened him
he stopped fascinated it seemed
like a Book was eating him
but he crossed the heat curtain

Rideau de chaleur

Malgré
les chevilles broyées
tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
malgré les éboulis
cérébraux malgré l’autoroute l’évêque le ministre
tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
mon amant voilier de haut bord
tes reins ressuscités s’apprêtent
à rouvrir le Bal des Ardents

tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
passager clandestin récidiviste
le mur interférant d’ulcères glapissants
de mouches d’août fanatiques
et maintenant tu vas fleurir dedans
moi y planer bras autour de la terre
comme un grand animal héraldique
léchant l’écorchure du blason

Patrick Mac’Avoy (1960s)

Click the title link below for the PDF of the novel:

A milestone of picaresque literature, The Comic Romance spawned countless imitations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and was championed in the nineteenth century by eminent literary figures such as Théophile Gautier and Gérard de Nerval.

________

‘Paul Scarron is the Homer of the school of buffoonery.’ Théophile Gautier

‘Jacques Houis’s lively new translation conveys the energy and vitality of Scarron’s original… a welcome revival of a comic classic.’ Times Literary Supplement

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Like this:

Despite the crushed ankles you crossed the heat curtain despite the cerebral scree despite the freeway the bishop the secretary of state you crossed the heat curtain my lover clipper ship your risen loins ready the reopening of the Ball of Burning Men

you crossed the heat curtain recidivist clandestine passenger the obstructing wall of yapping ulcers of fanatical black flies and now you are going to flower inside me gliding there arms around the earth like a great heraldic animal licking the blazon’s abrasion

behind the heat curtain Penelope’s solitary pleasure-pain weaving with saliva suddenly the man jumped from a moving truck and entered the lavender path his head bare the heat deadened him he stopped fascinated it seemed like a Book was eating him but he crossed the heat curtain

Rideau de chaleur

Malgré les chevilles broyées tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur malgré les éboulis cérébraux malgré l’autoroute l’évêque le ministre tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur mon amant voilier de haut bord tes reins ressuscités s’apprêtent à rouvrir le Bal des Ardents

tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur passager clandestin récidiviste le mur interférant d’ulcères glapissants de mouches d’août fanatiques et maintenant tu vas fleurir dedans moi y planer bras autour de la terre comme un grand animal héraldique léchant l’écorchure du blason

Patrick Mac’Avoy (1960s)

Share this:

Like this:

Despite
the crushed ankles
you crossed the heat curtain
despite the cerebral
scree despite the freeway the bishop the secretary of state
you crossed the heat curtain
my lover clipper ship
your risen loins ready the reopening
of the Ball of Burning Men

you crossed the heat curtain
recidivist clandestine passenger
the obstructing wall of yapping ulcers
of fanatical black flies
and now you are going to flower inside
me gliding there arms around the earth
like a great heraldic animal
licking the blazon’s abrasion

behind the heat curtain
Penelope’s solitary pleasure-pain
weaving with saliva suddenly
the man jumped from a moving truck
and entered the lavender path
his head bare the heat deadened him
he stopped fascinated it seemed
like a Book was eating him
but he crossed the heat curtain

Malgré
les chevilles broyées
tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
malgré les éboulis
cérébraux malgré l’autoroute l’évêque le ministre
tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
mon amant voilier de haut bord
tes reins ressuscités s’apprêtent
à rouvrir le Bal des Ardents

tu as franchi le rideau de chaleur
passager clandestin récidiviste
le mur interférant d’ulcères glapissants
de mouches d’août fanatiques
et maintenant tu vas fleurir dedans
moi y planer bras autour de la terre
comme un grand animal héraldique
léchant l’écorchure du blason