A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil

Max Ernst

Language: English

Publisher: Dover Publications

Published: Jun 15, 2017

Description:

In the course of browsing an illustrated book of objects—umbrellas, watches, tools, clothes—artist Max Ernst was struck by the items' unusual juxtapositions. By manipulating the Victorian-era engravings into striking tableaux and adding brief captions, Ernst invented the collage novel and transformed banal advertising art into revealing dramas rooted in his dreams and secret desires.
A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil was originally published in 1930 as Rêve d'une petite fille qui voulut entrer au Carmel. Its hallucinatory visions center on the nightmares of a girl who loses her virginity on the day of her first communion and resolves to become a nun. Ernst, a pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealistic art, blends humor and irony in his exploration of the nonrational but very real intersection of religious ecstasy and erotic desire. A century after its debut, this profoundly peculiar book retains its shock value as well as its imaginative power.

From the Back Cover

In the course of browsing an illustrated book of objects—umbrellas, watches, tools, clothes—artist Max Ernst was struck by the items' unusual juxtapositions. By manipulating the Victorian-era engravings into striking tableaux and adding brief captions, Ernst invented the collage novel and transformed banal advertising art into revealing dramas rooted in his dreams and secret desires.
A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil was originally published in 1930 as Rêve d'une petite fille qui voulut entrer au Carmel. Its hallucinatory visions center on the nightmares of a girl who loses her virginity on the day of her first communion and resolves to become a nun. Ernst, a pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealistic art, blends humor and irony in his exploration of the nonrational but very real intersection of religious ecstasy and erotic desire. A century after its debut, this profoundly peculiar book retains its shock value as well as its imaginative power.
www.doverpublications.com

About the Author

A key figure in the Dadaist and Surrealist art movements, German-born Max Ernst (1891–1976) became an American citizen in 1948 and a French citizen in 1958. Painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and poet, Ernst employed the fragmented logic of collage in this volume and in his landmark collage book, Une semaine de bonté, also published by Dover.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil

By Max Ernst

Dover Publications, Inc.

Copyright © 2017 Dover Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-81452-0

Contents

La Ténebreuse,
I. The Tenebreuse,
La Chevelure,
II. The Hair,
Le Couteau,
III. The Knife,
Le Céleste Fiancé,
IV. The Celestial Bridegroom,

CHAPTER 1

THE TENEBREUSE

Le Père: "Votre baiser me semble adulte, mon enfant. Venu de Dieu, il ira loin. Allez, ma fille, allez en avant et ...

The father: "Your kiss seems adult, my child. Coming from God, it will go far. Go, my daughter, go ahead and ...

... comptez sur moi!" Marceline-Marie: "Ma tenue me semble indécente, papa, en présence du Père Dulac. L'épreuve la plus délicate pour une Enfant de Marie ..." Le R. P.: "La joie sera près de vous, mon enfant!" Le Père: "Laissez-moi pleurer et ...

"... count on me!" Marceline-Marie: "My costume seems indecent, Papa, in the presence of Father Dulac. It's a delicate situation for a child of Mary ..." The R. F.: "Joy will be yours, my child!" The father: "Let me weep and ...

... serrer cette main qui sera condamnée à végéter dans une cellule! Écoutez-moi, mon enfant: la calvitie vous guette." Marceline-Marie se fend en deux. (Angoisse et cris.)

"... hold this hand condemned to vegetate in a cell. Listen to me, my child, baldness awaits you." Marceline-Marie splits in two. (Anguish and cries.)

"Déjà je me trouve seule à seule avec moi, en face de moi-même ..."

"I already find myself alone, too alone with myself, face to face with myself ..."

"Jésus est là! C'est lui-même qui me crucifie! Où êtes-vous? Papa! Papa! ..."

"Jesus is here. It's he who crucifies me. Where are you? Papa! Papa! ..."

"Dites-moi qui je suis: moi ou ma sœur ...

"Tell me who am I: me or my sister ...

"... ou en bas, cette indécente amazone dans son petit désert privé ..."

"... or, down there, that indecent Amazon in her little private desert ...

"... oh quelle joie! Voilà les charmeurs de sangsues! ..."

"... oh what joy! Here come the leech-charmers! ..."

"Allons! Dansons la Ténébreuse ...

"Let's go. Let's dance the Tenebreuse ...

"... jusqu'à épuisement complet des beaux danseurs!"

"... until the beautiful dancers are completely exhausted!"

Et après la "Ténébreuse", au bal des Dames du Calvaire, Marceline-Marie se voit l'objet d'adulations empressées.

And after the Tenebreuse, at the Our Lady of Calvary ball, Marceline-Marie finds herself the center of attention.

Mais voici l'heure du pansement. Prière: "Nous vous offrons, oh Seigneur, le pansement que nous allons faire ...

Ah, now we've come to the bandage hour. Prayer: "We offer you, oh Lord, the bandage that we will make ...

"... pour honorer la passion et la mort de votre Fils Notre-Seigneur ...

"... to honor the passion and death of your Son, our Lord ...

"... Daignez accorder leur pureté première à nos ennemis les parents desséchés, à bonne maman et à bon papa ...

"... Please give back their original purity to our enemies, to our dried-up parents, to dear Mama and good Papa ...

"... l'esprit de résignation à notre tante acariâtre ...

"... the spirit of resignation to our vixen aunt ...

"... et à nous tous une mort théâtrale ...

"... and to all of us a theatrical death ...

"... afin que nous ayons la joie de vous rejoindre, ô Époux adoré, en ce bateau qui glisse sur notre plancher en sang. Qui saurait l'ardeur de mes désirs, sinon Votre très haute Altesse, Votre très auguste Humilité, Votre Obéissance et Votre Régularité Royale." (Fin de la Prière.)

"... so that we may have the joy of joining you, oh adored Spouse, in this vessel which glides over the bloody floor. Who can know the ardor of my desires if not Your very high Highness, Your very august Humility, Your Obedience, and Your Royal Regularity." (End of prayer.)

Le R. P. Dulac Dessalé: "Levez-vous, épouse de Jésus. Suivez-moi, ma toute belle, dans les fentes des murailles, moi qu'on nomme cafard, noirot, bête noire ..."

The Reverend Father Dulac Dessalé: "Rise, bride of Jesus. Follow me, my beauty, to the cracks in the walls, I who am called cockroach and kill-joy ..."

Marceline-Marie: "Qui suis-je? Moi, ma sœur ou ce scarabée obscur?" (Gêne.)

Marceline-Marie: "Who am I? I myself, my sister or this obscure beetle?" (Embarrassment.)

Mon curé devenu fou entre deux messes: "Vous êtes celle qui infeste les navires et qui court la nuit sur les passagers endormis. Vous répandez une douce odeur dans mes plus intimes profondeurs. Vous êtes ..." (Silence religieux.)

The priest, gone mad between two masses: "You're the one who infests ships, and crawls over the sleeping passengers at night. You give off a sweetish odor in my most intimate depths. You are ..." (Religious silence.)

La voix du R. P. Denis Dulac Dessalé: "La porte de l'enfer est là, ouverte à tous."

The voice of the R. F. Denis Dulac Dessalé: "There is hell's door, open to all."

La voix du cimetière de Lisieux: "Dormez, dormez mon enfant." Ici Marceline- Marie se réveille, vérifie sa tenue qu'elle trouve décente et s'endort de nouveau.

The cemetery of Lisieux's voice: "Sleep, sleep my child." At this point Marceline-Marie awakens, examines her clothes, which she finds decent, and goes back to sleep.

CHAPTER 2

THE HAIR

Marceline-Marie, sortant de l'arbre anthropophage: "Tous mes colibris ont un alibi et mon corps se couvre de cent vertus profondes."

Marceline-Marie, coming out of the anthropophagus tree: "All my hummingbirds have alibis, and a hundred profound virtues cover my body."

Pie XI: "La calvitie vous guette, mon enfant! Au premier coup de feu vos cheveux s'envoleront avec vos dents et vos ongles. Tout cela ne doit servir qu'à ma très invisible parure."

Pius XI: "Baldness awaits you, my child. At the first shot your hair will fly away with your teeth and your nails. That serves only my very invisible vestments."

Marceline-Marie: "Sous mon blanc vêtement venez avec moi, pies et harpies. Prenez des charbons ardents dans vos bees et ...

Marceline-Marie: "Crows and harpies, come with me under my white dress, take burning coals in your beaks and ...

"hop là! hop là! ...

"upsy-daisy! Upsy-daisy! ..."

Marceline-Marie sortant de la mer anthropophage: "Toutes mes joies ont un alibi et mon corps se couvre de cent fissures profondes, ...

Marceline-Marie, coming out of the anthropophagus sea: "All my joys have alibis, and my body is covered with a hundred deep cracks ...

"... sous mon blanc vêtement, venez avec moi, très insensibles rats mitrés. Et vous, les coléoptères, qui faites le service des environs des villes, suivez-moi, les clochettes à la main et ...

"... come with me under my white slip, you very insensitive and well-mitered rats. And you, beetles, you who pick up the suburban garbage, follow me with your little bells and ...

"... hop là! hop là! ...

"... upsy-daisy! Upsy-daisy! ...

"... sous mon blanc vêtenient, venez avec moi, très effrayantes sauterelles qui lisent les journaux! Écarquillez vos petits yeux et ...

"... Come with me under my white dress, you terrible newspaper-reading grasshoppers. Widen your little eyes and ...

"... hop là! hop là! ...

"... upsy-daisy! Upsy-daisy! ...

"... sous mon blanc vêtement, tenez-vous bien tranquilles à la porte de mon àme, chers petits lapins! Frappez sans entrer ni sortir ...

"... keep quiet at my soul's door, dear little rabbits there under my white dress. Knock without coming in or going out ...

"... sous mon blanc vêtement, dans mon colombodrôme, vous ne serez plus pauvres, pigeons tonsurés. Je vous apporterai douze tonnes de sucre. Mais ne touchez pas à mes cheveux!"

"... you won't be poor anymore, head-shaven pigeons, under my white dress, in my columbarium. I'll bring you a dozen tons of sugar. But don't you touch my hair!"

Le pigeon mitré: "De vos cheveux, bien chère enfant, le ciel est jaloux." — Marceline et Marie (d'une seule voix): "Déicides! Déicides!"

The well-mitered pigeon: "Heaven is jealous of your hair, beloved child." Marceline and Marie (in unison): "Crucifiers! Crucifiers!"

Et la chevelure s'en va ...

And the hair floats away ...

... majestueuse.

... majestically.

Mais pourquoi se façonne-t-elle un corps d'athlète? Pourquoi l'enduit-elle d'une bave glutineuse? — La chevelure: "C'est pour mieux t'étrangler, mon enfant."

"But why does it wear the body of an athlete? Why is it smeared with a gelatinous spittle?" The hair: "The better to strangle you, my child."

Marceline-Marie: "Mais pourquoi, ma chevelure, pourquoi estu partout?" — La chevelure: "C'est pour mieux te mettre à ta place, mon enfant."

Marceline-Marie: "But why, hair, why are you everywhere?" The hair: "The better to put you in your place, my child."

Marceline-Marie: "Ma place est aux pieds d'un époux clément." — La chevelure: "Rêver, s'habiller et babiller le vendredi malsain."

Marceline-Marie: "My place is at the feet of a merciful husband." The hair: "To dream, to dress, to babble on sick Friday."

Marceline-Marie: "Je ne vois rien, je ne sens-rien, je ne devine rien ...

Marceline-Marie: "I see nothing, I feel nothing, I can't guess anything ...

"... mon corps devient mou et blanc ...

"... my body is growing soft and white ...

"... de par la grâce du très invisible fiancé."

"... thanks to the invisible fiancé."

Voici l'heure de la prière sans paroles. Prière: "Seigneur chéri, câlinez-moi comme vous saviez le faire dans l'inoubliable nuit où ...

Here now is the hour of wordless prayer. Prayer: "Dear Lord, fondle me as you knew so well how to do, during the unforgettable night when ...

"... mon âme fut inondée de la rosée céleste ...

"... my soul was flooded with heavenly dew ...

"... où nous avions dressé un petit purgatoire ...

"... when we built a little purgatory ...

"... dans la chambre des incubations; et une corbeille dans laquelle, à chaque acte de vertu, nous allions déposer ...

"... in the incubation rooms; and a basket where, each time we did something virtuous, we dropped into it ...

"... un grain de froment pour en faire l'hostie de notre seconde communion."

(Fin de la prière.)

Marceline-Marie se réveille et vérifie sa tenue. Après avoir baissé sa chemise de nuit, qui était montée au-dessus du genou, elle s'endort de nouveau. Le rêve continue.

"... a grain of wheat for the making of the Host for our second communion."

(End of the prayer.)

Marceline-Marie awakens and checks her clothes. After pulling down her nightgown which has slid up above her knees, she goes back to sleep. The dream continues.

(Continues...) Excerpted from A Little Girl Dreams of Taking the Veil by Max Ernst. Copyright © 2017 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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