#norman balthus

[sigurism]

Clancy Brown | Ralph Waite Carnivàle 1.10 -Hot and Bothered

[carnivalehbo]

[sounwise]

[In early May 1967, w]hile the Redlands trio [Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Robert Fraser] awaited trial, DS [Norman] Pilcher raided Brian Jones’s London flat, busting him and his friend Prince Stanislas Klossowski de Rola, the extravagantly named son of the French painter Balthus. Brian and Prince Stash, as he was known for short, were taken down to Kensington Police Station in a blaze of publicity and charged with possession of cocaine and cannabis, Jones charged additionally with possession of cocaine and methedrine. They went from the police station to the new high-rise Hilton Hotel on Park Lane, where the Stones’ new American manager Allen Klein was staying, but the hotel management made it clear that Jones and de Rola were not welcome, which is when Prince Stash took a call from Paul McCartney, whom he knew slightly. Prince Stash explained to Paul that he and Brian couldn’t stay at the Hilton, and couldn’t go back to Brian’s flat because of the press. Brian had other places he could go, but Stash, a foreigner, didn’t know what to do. ‘I’m sending my car and driver right now. You’re packing your bags and moving into my house, and if they want to bust you again they’ll have to bust me as well,’ Paul said. So Prince Stash joined Paul and Dudley at Cavendish Avenue, running movies on Paul’s 16mm projector, taking drugs and entertaining what Stash describes as harems of girls, including a [woman] named Iggy [Evelyn Rose], while Beatles fans camped outside, periodically bursting in through the gates ‘like sort of cattle breaking through a fence’. They’d steal Paul’s laundry and empty his ashtrays—‘Did he smoke this?’—before being ejected.

[—from Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney, Howard Sounes]

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

Carnivàle (TV Series) - S2/E3 'Ingram, TX' (2005) Ralph Waite as Reverend Norman Balthus

I don’t know what’s hotter... getting a blow job or Ralph Waite watching you getting said blow job. 

Then again, Ralph giving you the blow job would be hotter.

[argentvive]

Stages of Alchemy

In an earlier post I outlined the main way alchemists organized the Opus Alchymicum, in 4, 7, 12, or 14 stages.  

https://www.tumblr.com/edit/argentvive/643426690373173248

As I noted, for writers of poems, drama, and novels, the principal guides are the black/white/red color stages and/or the twelve process stages (”gates”) of George Ripley.  

But of course nothing is so simple.  

To give you an idea of the diversity and complexity of alchemy and its stages. consider this example  from the manuscript Speculum veritatis [The Mirror of Truth], 17th century, Vatican library.  Stanislaus Klossowski di Rola (the son of the artist Balthus) is a massive alchemy enthusiast and like his inspiration, Carl Jung, started rummaging around the monastic and church archives of Europe looking for unknown and unpublished alchemy manuscripts.  He found this one in the Vatican library and published it in 1973 (Alchemy: The Secret Art). 

This illustration shows the alchemical process as a wheel, the opus circulatorium, the “circular work of the elements,” in Lyndy Abraham’s definition in her dictionary.  I wrote about this a little with respect to Daenerys Targaryen’s promise to “break the wheel” in GOT.  I speculated that when Daenerys completed the Great Work, completed all the stages of the wheel, she would achieve the Philosopher’s Stone and break the cycle of oppression and slavery.  That certainly didn’t happen on the show; we’ll see (hopefully!) if it happens in the books.   

On the right is a representation of Sulphur (he holds the symbol for Sulphur in his left hand).  In a post from a couple of years ago I explain why I believe that Daenerys is Sulphur (and thus by definition Sun, fire and air, Red).  In this image, Sulphur is stopping (“fixing”) the wheel with a nail in the stage labeled “Ciner.”, the abbreviation for cineres (ashes), and thus gray.  All the labels are in Latin and abbreviated, but most are easy to figure out.  

To make it even easier, Adam McLean prepared a colored version of the entire image, including the seated guy on the right.  Here’s what I think the 8 stages are. 

1.  Ciner. = Cineres, Ashes, gray

2. Nig. - Niger, black

3. Colores Vary. - Mixed colors (note also the symbol for Mercury)

4. Unlabeled - McLean has colored it orange, not sure why

5. Citrin. / Purpu Obscuri - Citrinus, yellow / purpureus obscurus, “hidden purple”

6. Flau. Obscu / Cauda Pavon. -  Flavus Obscurus, “hidden yellow”  /   cauda pavonis, peacock’s tail

7. Vir. Cerul. /Rub. Palid -  viridis ceruleus, green-blue / ruber pallidus, pale red,  McLean just ignores the “pale red” label and makes the whole section green.  

8. Album - White. Note the crescent moon. 

You can see how the words for the color stages derived from the color words: niger becomes nigredo, the black stage; album becomes albedo, the white stage; citrinus becomes citrinitas, the yellow stage, and ruber becomes rubedo, the red stage.

I would love to find a novel that has all these stages.  Presumably it would be a book published after 1973.  

Green does show up quite a bit in literature, Jaime Lannister as the “green lion,” for example.  And we get living, breathing peacocks from time to time--Norman and Barry in HDM, or the albino peacocks at Malfoy Manor in HP.  A rainbow is a common symbol for peacock; GRRM throws in a rainbow at particularly transformative moments in ASOIAF, as when Jon takes his vows to the Night Watch, for example.  

[dreimalfuermich]

Sa, 11.08.2018

LIKE A HUNGRY GREAT WHITE

11:03h. Geduldig und hingehalten wartete ich im Song, der da im DriveNow Mietauto aus dem Radio kam, auf die entscheidenden, den Titel nun endlich ins Gehirn zurückrufenden lyrics, von einer jungen Madonna eingesungen im Jahre 1986 oder 1987, und als es endlich kam und mir kam und ich stumm ein “Ach ja” in mich hinein dachte - Who’s that girl - erst da war es mir möglich, dieses Lied auf die Musik hin abzuhören. Volle und satte analoge Arpeggios mit kurzem sustain, die aus diesem ultradichten, 80er-Jahre-kompakten Mix herausragten wie glänzende Messer.

Zu Madonna wiederum fiel mir dann ein, weil ich seit dem mittäglichen Anruf von Joachim Bessing die Kopplung “Bowie-Balthus” im Kopf hatte, das bei mir noch eine Playboy-Ausgabe aus dem Oktober 1994 liegt (die ich vorletzte Woche im Zuge eines Aufräumens bei Otto fand), in der Madonna von Norman Mailer (!) interviewt wird, also die Kopplung “Madonna-Mailer” schon irgendwo abgelegt war in meinem Organ. Vom Einfluss, den Norman Mailers Werk auf den “Düstermann” (R. Goetz) Matthew Barney haben sollte, ist noch nichts zu erahnen. Madonna übrigens, ist zum Zeitpunkt des Interviews, 1994, so alt wie ich jetzt. Ich nehm dies als knusprigen Zufall hin.

(...) Mailer: Na ja, der Künstler ist ein anderer Mensch als der, der das alltägliche Leben lebt. Der eine sagt zum anderen: “Unter der und der Bedingung gestatte ich dir....” Und die andere Seite sagt: “Laß du mich meine Sachen machen, dann lasse ich dir deinen Frieden.”

Madonna: Stimmt. Das ist interessant.

Mailer: Je älter man wird, desto näher kommen sich die beiden Hälften.

Madonna: Tatsächlich? Ich freu’ mich darauf, mit mir selber zusammenzukommen.

Paar Seiten weiter baut Mailer noch eine komplette Dekonstruktion des Kondoms ein, warum sie, Kondome, Teil einer “Verschwörung” seien, Ziel: Kettung der Menschen an die “gesellschaftliche Maschinerie”. 

Sprung hinüber: Madonna im Dick-Tracy-Film, der mich als Kind so wahnsinnig beeindruckt hat, dieses andere Gotham/Prohibition City in einem anderen Kunst-Amerika, düstere Straßenzüge, Hochbahntrassen aus ölig schwarzem Stahl, diese gesichtsdeformierten Gangster, Warren Beatty in einem neapelgelben Trenchcoat, überhaupt diese satten Farben der Kostüme, der Hüte und Mäntel. Für mich damals, 8 oder 9 Jahre alt, ein erster ästhetischer Schauer, aber ohne Bezeichnung. Heute weiß ich das.

EXPRESS meldet, der Brunnen muss kommende Woche wieder stillgelegt werden, Wasserdruck lässt nach, unterirdische Filteranlagen müssen geprüft werden. EBERTPLATZMITHUMOR

18:01h. Wo ich sie grade anhöre: schreibe gestern eine SMS an Olaf Karnik, ob er schon die neue - wie ich finde - superschöne Laurel Halo (Ambient-)Platte gehört habe. Antwort Olaf: “Nee also Halo is bei mir unten durch seit Artist Talk mit Oberdepp Phil Collins (der Videokünstler, nicht der Genesis-Schlagzeuger, Anm. d. Red.) beim letzten Weekend”, woraufhin ich nur noch LOL hinzufügen konnte. Ganz unrecht hat Olaf nicht. 

[fallsekings]

@unyieldingvalxr asked: "Wish I didn’t know now what I didn't know then." Nastya mournfully confides.

Justin didn’t remember most of his past, he had been so young when everything happened, that he had somehow been able to suppress it... he did know that his true name was Alexei, but beyond that, he couldn’t see very clearly. As a boy, he had been brought to the United States from Russia and had been adopted by Norman Balthus and he quickly knew his future. He wanted to be like the man who had reached into the darkness to take care of him--- he wanted to be a preacher.

“What would that be?” Justin asked, trying to take in all of the details that he could muster. It had been a lot as of late... a lot that he had to learn and relearn. 

[caveartfair]

Iran Sentences Gallerists to Prison, Lashes—and the 9 Other Biggest News Stories This Week

01  An Iranian-American gallery owner and his wife were handed stiff sentences by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Court.

(via the Wall Street Journal)

The court convicted Karan Vafadari and Afarin Nayssari, a wealthy couple known for their lavish parties in the Iranian capital Tehran, of espionage and other charges. Vafadari, who has consistently denied the allegations, was sentenced to 27 years in prison, 124 lashes, and a cash fine of $243,000, according to a letter he wrote from prison that was published online Tuesday by the Center for Human Rights in Iran. His wife, who holds a U.S. green card, received 16 years in prison. The court confiscated all of Vafadari’s assets, citing a rarely used provision of Iranian law that allows such seizures from dual citizens. The couple, who owned the Aun Gallery, were originally arrested in July 2016 for violating Islamic laws that forbid serving alcohol and prohibit men and women from mixing. But because the couple are adherents of Zoroastrianism, an ancient pre-Islamic religion, they were exempt from the Islamic rules. Tehran prosecutors subsequently added the espionage charges. Vafadari’s son, who lives in Atlanta, called the Iranian justice system “opaque” and said his father and stepmother would appeal. A U.S. official called for the couple’s release. Iranian officials said Washington was not engaging in negotiations over a potential prisoner swap.

02  A Turkish air strike has caused severe damage to a Syrian temple that dates back to the Iron Age.

(via The Art Newspaper)

The ancient temple of Ain Dara in northwest Syria has suffered major damages following an attack by Turkish air forces that deliberately targeted the structure. The temple was discovered in 1955 and excavated thereafter, reported The Art Newspaper, with the dig unearthing the base of the structure that had “survived in relatively good condition.” But last week’s bombing caused major destruction, particularly to the temple’s massive basalt sculptures, which remained intact for over 3,000 years. The Turkish military targeted Ain Dara as part of a campaign against Kurdish separatists, despite the structure having no discernible military significance, a potential violation of protections for cultural property during armed conflict under the Hague Convention. Despite the damage, it may be possible to partially reconstruct the site, thanks to well-recorded documentation, according to The Art Newspaper.

03  Queens Museum director Laura Raicovich, who charted the museum on an increasingly political course, has stepped down after three years.

(via the New York Times)

Raicovich, an outspoken liberal who partially shuttered the Queens Museum in protest of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, cited divergence between her vision for the institution and the direction favored by the board as the reason for stepping down. Raicovich has in the past year taken to social media to critique the president’s policies, especially those on immigration, highlighting fear within the museum’s nearby immigrant community, a key constituency of the institution. Board members reportedly balked at Raicovich’s recent plan to turn the museum into “sanctuary space” that would bring immigrants and social services together. “There are so many big things that art and culture have to contend with that are so wrong in the world,” Raicovich told the Times. “That’s where my focus and energy needs to be, and at the end of the day, I just felt that my vision and that of the board weren’t in enough alignment to get that done.” Board chairman Mark J. Coleman praised Raicovich as “fearless” and said a search for a replacement would begin immediately. Curators and staff from various art institutions subsequently penned an open letter in the Times expressing continued support for Raicovich and the political engagement she brought to the Queens Museum. “Art institutions must respond to pressing issues facing our communities—this is not simply a right but an obligation, especially for those supported by public funds,” the letter read.

04  Frieze New York is now open to dealers without a permanent space, accommodating evolving gallery models.

(via artnet News and Art Agency, Partners)

Most contemporary art fairs’ criteria require participants to mount a set number of shows per year, which requires a physical gallery location. But Frieze New York this year will allow case-by-case exceptions, two of whom, Nicole Klagsbrun and Tig Sigfrid, are already planning to exhibit in May’s fair on Randall’s Island, artnet News reported. The change suggests the fair, one of the art market’s biggest, is accommodating increasingly common gallery models that don’t involve maintaining a cost-intensive physical space in pricey locales. Artnet News noted that Frieze London has not dropped its physical location requirement, while Frieze Masters has never had one. Frieze New York also added a second VIP preview day, making the fair five days in total. Subsequently, Art Agency, Partners’s Charlotte Burns reported on Thursday that Frieze is eyeing the city of Los Angeles for its third annual fair, with a potential launch in January 2019; Frieze declined to confirm the plans in a statement.

05  Manchester Art Gallery has removed a Victorian-era painting of nude adolescent nymphs from display, resulting in mixed reactions.

(via the BBC)

The 1896 painting, Hylas and the Nymphs by JW Waterhouse, shows a young man leaning over a pond with several nude adolescent women gazing toward him. The museum decided to temporarily remove the painting from view due to the ongoing reckoning around sexual harassment, sparked by the #metoo movement. According to the BBC, the decision was made both by gallery staff and artist Sonia Boyce, who plans to include a video of the removal process in her upcoming exhibition at the institution. Clare Gannaway, a curator at the gallery, said the intention of removing the painting was to “encourage debate” about the representation of women in art and how modern viewers should react to it. However, many have reacted to the removal itself as being too politically correct, with some even viewing it as censorship, a charge the gallery has denied. As art historian Liz Prettejohn, who once curated a show on Waterhouse, told the BBC, “Taking it off display is killing any kind of debate that you might be able to have.” The decision diverges from one made by the Met late last year, when it refused the demands of an online petition to take down a painting by Balthus that depicted a young girl in a sexualized pose.

06  The Louvre is exhibiting 31 Nazi-looted artworks in the hope of finding their rightful owners.

(via the Telegraph)

The Paris museum decided to put a selection of the 296 Nazi-looted pieces stored at the institution—including pieces by Eugène Delacroix and Théodore Rousseau—on permanent view so that “heirs may see these works, declare that they belong to them, and officially ask for their return,” Sébastien Allard, head of the Louvre’s paintings department, told the Telegraph. Those wishing to claim a work must provide proof it belonged to a relative, and the verification of a claim can take years, said Allard. The Nazis looted an estimated 100,000 artworks during their occupation of France, many from Jewish families, and over 2,000 still remain unclaimed today. As more time has elapsed, the pace of restitution has slowed: Only around 50 pieces have been returned to their rightful heirs since 1951.

07  The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office asked the state’s Appeals Court to extend an injunction barring the Berkshire Museum from descassioning 40 artworks amid speculation of a resolution.

(via the Berkshire Eagle)

The ongoing legal battle over the deaccessioning of 40 works in the Berkshire Museum’s collection might be heading towards resolution, but some involved in the case urged that it too early to say for certain. In a motion filed on Monday, the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office asked for an injunction barring the museum’s sales to be extended to February 5th. In a Monday statement, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General said they are “hopeful that a brief extension will allow us to fully analyze the information we have received in our investigation, in the hope of finding a way forward to secure the future of the Museum and ensure it is able to thrive in the years to come.” The museum also issued a similarly hopeful statement this past weekend, saying it “is eager to resolve these issues to secure [its] long term future.” The proposed sale, which would have included paintings by Norman Rockwell, among other well-known artists, drew intense criticism across the art world and beyond when it was announced last July, resulting in several lawsuits, including one from Rockwell’s heirs. Despite the newfound optimism, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs in one lawsuit kept a realistic stance on this week’s statements and warned against reading too much into them, reported the Berkshire Eagle.

08  A U.S. Treasury Department list of prominent Russians linked to the Kremlin includes several art world figures.

(via The Art Newspaper, the AP, and the Washington Post)

The Treasury drew up a list of oligarchs and politicians connected with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of its obligations under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, passed by Congress last year.  The list, which was released late Monday night, includes Dmitry Rybolovlev, the Russian billionaire who is embroiled in a long-running fraud suit against a former advisor and who consigned Leonardo da Vinci’s record-breaking Salvator Mundi (c. 1490s) to Christie’s. Other art-world figures on the list include Alexei Ananyev, founder of the Institute of Russian Realist Art, and Boris Mints, who founded the Museum of Russian Impressionism. None of the 114 Russian politicians and 96 oligarchs named by the document will face any immediate legal repercussions. According to the Washington Post, the list appears to be primarily sourced from a Forbes ranking of wealthy Russians and officials named on the Kremlin’s public website (the Treasury list even replicated a mistake from the Forbes ranking). “One does not have to be very smart to make this list,” Mikhail Fedotov, head of the Kremlin Human Rights Council, told reporters. President Putin lambasted the list but said Russia would not retaliate.

09  A Manhattan district court has ruled that Fred Dorfman, the art dealer who sold several stolen works by Jasper Johns, is eligible to face criminal charges.

(via The Art Newspaper)

Dorfman, who runs a Chelsea gallery called Dorfman+, is alleged to have been involved in an illegal ploy with James Meyer, a former assistant to Johns. Meyer was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2015 for stealing dozens of works that the American Pop artist had discarded over a 20-plus-year period and gave them to Dorfman to sell. Dorfman never faced criminal charges, only a civil suit from a Canadian gallery, Equinox Gallery, to whom he sold a stolen Johns painting in 2008. As a result of the January 25th ruling by the Court for the Southern District of New York, Equinox can now file a racketeering claim against the dealer and sue Dorfman for up to $2.4 million in damages plus legal fees. The ruling further suggests that it was Dorfman’s idea to sell the stolen works, not Meyer’s, and to pass them off as gifts given by Johns himself. The dealer, however, denies any wrongdoing. “It is a very triable case since Dorfman was not part of a fraud,” his lawyer told The Art Newspaper.

10  Christo will unveil a floating “mastaba” in Hyde Park’s Serpentine lake this summer.

(via the New York Times and The Art Newspaper)

Christo said he has long been intrigued by the mastaba, a structure originating in the Middle East that was often built atop tombs. His version for London’s Hyde Park will float in the Serpentine lake, in an “incredible vegetation and open area,” the artist told the Times. The sculpture will debut alongside an exhibition of the artist’s work at the Serpentine Galleries. It will be built out of 7,506 oil barrels, and will be red, white, and blue, the colors of the United Kingdom’s flag, as well as purple, a color Christo called “very royal.” He is making a similar structure in Abu Dhabi that will be 50 times larger and potentially the largest art project in the world. The Hyde Park project will be funded through the sale of his artwork. Meanwhile, the Serpentine Galleriesannounced on Wednesday that it will be opening a Liu Jiakun-designed space in Beijing this upcoming May.

from Artsy News

[pangeanews]

Modesta proposta: Premio Strega postumo a Marina Ripa di Meana. Ha più palle lei di tutto il Colosseo degli scrittori italiani odierni

Ci vuole del genio per mostrare il pelo…

Marina è morta, viva Marina. Ah, questa donna! La quintessenza dell’italianità: è divenuta famosa senza aver mai realmente fatto un cazzo, anzi, forse proprio per questo. L’essere e il nulla nella loro astrattezza coincidono e lei l’ha dimostrato. Ci voleva una gran fortuna per arrivare così in alto, nel paese in cui il merito e il valore sono del tutto superflui, ma è necessario possedere del genio per restare sempre sulla cresta dell’onda. E lei ce l’ha fatta. Chapeau! Ma, forse, con queste mie parole sono stato ingiusto. In verità, questa donna è stata una figura da romanzo. Pensate adesso ai suoi due cognomi: Lante della Rovere e Ripa di Meana. Lei “il doppio” l’ha vissuto alla luce del sole, spesso confondendo i ruoli con sapiente maestria. Era oramai Ripa di Meana, ma ancora si faceva chiamare della Rovere. Le ha dovuto ingiungere un tribunale di scegliersi un’identità, in ciò dimostrando scarsa fantasia e poco rispetto per il senso dell’intreccio nella narrazione di sé. Che donna, signori, che donna! Ha fatto un po’ di tutto, perfino la battona per procurare la droga al suo amante pittore. E poi, in netto anticipo sullo spirito dei tempi, anche lei, come tutti noi oggi, si è improvvisata scrittrice. E che ci vuole! Un libro, in fondo, è fatto di fogli e inchiostro. Le parole verranno da sé, oppure le scriverà qualcuno in nostra vece. E l’attivismo animalista? Tutte queste starlette, che oggi la menano con le loro campagne di sensibilizzazione, devono tutto a lei che ha lanciato la moda del “non avendo niente da fare ed essendo una signora ricca e annoiata, perché non cercare di nobilitarmi spendendomi anima e corpo in una battaglia insulsa, magari in difesa del criceto del Mozambico”. Non è molto più stupido, del resto, che trasformare in una questione di vita o di morte la lotta per il matrimonio omosessuale, in un paese che marcisce nella disoccupazione. Renzi, sei un misero epigono!

Un genio nell’uso del proprio corpo: la pubblicità ‘scandalosa’ di Marina Ripa di Meana

Ma veniamo al dunque, al sodo, ossia al pelo. Non dite che non avete visto la foto del noto cartellone, perché non ci crede nessuno. Parlo di quello nel quale ostenta il corpo nudo e la sua fica è rivestita da quel sontuoso e a tratti altero manto di peli pubici. Il manifesto avrebbe dovuto avere in teoria un significato profondo, a cui in verità ben pochi hanno badato. Forse perché il recondito non rientra nel sentire nazionale, oppure perché, come dice Hegel, “non c’è niente di più profondo di ciò che sta in superficie”. E, in effetti, ciò che vi era sulla superficie della signora era ben più che bastevole. Guardatevi lo sketch in cui ne parla Roberto Benigni. Tenta di scherzarci su, ma si vede lontano un miglio che la nudità struggente di Marina lo commuove. E non è il solo perché, sia detto in camera caritatis, la Ripa di Meana era una gran gnocca. Certo, ahinoi, oramai quel suo “stile” è un poco desueto a livello di inconscio collettivo e di immaginario estetico. Roba da Playboy e Playmen anni ’60-’70. O tempora, o mores. Nessuna va più fiera della sua “pelliccia”. Se la rasano, ci mettono il piercing, il tatuaggio. La fica è divenuta mostrabile, addirittura presentabile in società. Non è più l’oscuro oggetto del desiderio. Quindi addio a quella vaporosa arborescenza in tutto affine per il suo fascino a un pericoloso cespuglio di rovi. La signora della Rovere lo sapeva, ne aveva intima coscienza, lei che intorno a Essa ci aveva costruito una carriera. Per questo il suo modo di esibirla era così diverso da oggi. Ella non mostra una fica pelosa, ma una dramatis persona, con la sua maschera, in una delle migliori interpretazioni del Potere, soggiogante e capace di incutere reverenza. No, sul serio, qui ci vuole del genio, seppur un po’ ruspante e pecoreccio, ma del genio. Certamente, non poteva che sbocciare qui in Italia.

Matteo Fais

*

…ode a Marina. Ma… cosa ha fatto davvero? Le grandi donne non si chiavano, si leggono

Ci vuole un pelo sullo stomaco – e non solo lì – per essere una donna con le palle. Le donne con le palle sono quelle per cui gli uomini si castrerebbero. Sono creature rare, che varcano la vita con inquieta naturalezza. Lou von Salomé, per dire, eccitava quello Zarathustra di Nietzsche, ma se ne andò in Russia con Rainer Maria Rilke, il quale, un paio di decenni dopo, fu blandito da Baladine Klossowska, superba polacca, già maritata e mamma dei due maximi perversi, Balthus – il pittore – e Pierre Klossowski – demonico scrittore. Come chiavavano Nietzsche e Rilke? Domane letterariamente capitali. Ad ogni modo, roveto di odi alle donne magnetiche, utili a galvanizzare l’energumena energia dei maschi artisti, più omega che alfa. Per cui, sia onore imperituro a Marina Ripa di Meana, che ha messo nella tomba – prima di finirci anche lei – tutti gli amanti pluridecorati, emblema vipera della ‘dolce vita’ che fu – cioè una esistenza con pochi dolciumi e molto assenzio, poche carezze e parecchia coca, giocata sull’apice della convinzione che il mondo non ha senso, perciò tanto vale mandarla in vacca, godere tutto e spadroneggiare spavaldamente, finché ce n’è. Solo che… solo che se di Marina Ripa di Meana facciamo una amazzone di marmo, cosa dovremmo fare di Amanda Lear, divinizzata da Salvador Dalí, assisa nel talamo di David Bowie, diretta da Norman Mailer, amata da quasi tutti quelli che l’hanno provocatoriamente avvicinata? A questo punto, eleggiamo Amanda a papessa di questa Repubblica delle banane (in tutti i sensi). Cerco di essere più conciso. Che cavolo ha fatto Marina Ripa di Meana? Ha fatto tanto per l’altro sesso, dicono. Fantastico. Ha vissuto, soprattutto. E questo, ormai, non glielo toglie nessuno – a patto che qualcuno mi spieghi, senza facinorosi sofismi, cosa voglia dire ‘vivere’. Ma… cosa ha fatto, cosa ha scritto, Marina? Ha scritto I miei primi quarant’anni, Colazione al Grand Hotel e un mucchio di altri libri che nanificano l’opera omnia di Fabio Volo, e anche quella di troppi sedicenti scrittori. Vero. Questo mi basta per detonare il proclama: assegniamo il Premio Strega postumo a Marina Ripa di Meana, mica a Severino Cesari, poverino. Tanto la letteratura è sempre postuma – altrimenti è editoria che ti s’incastra direttamente nei posteriori – e Marina, ora, starà facendo un bel festone nel locale più raffinato dell’aldilà. Ma… cosa ha fatto la Ripa di Meana, oltre a usare il corpo come arma ‘politica’? Giusto. Proprio così. Qualcosa tra l’edonismo e il nulla. Il buco della serratura di un mondo fitto di maschioni allupati. E anche qui, ci sarebbe da far fiorire applausi. Ormai, per vezzo, agli artisti italiani non tira quasi più. Ma… cosa ha fatto di grande Marina? Ecco. Giusto. Avete ragione. Onore a Marina Ripa di Meana. Io preferisco, ancora, la femminilità ‘maschia’ di Virginia Woolf, preferisco la bellezza violenta di Anna Achmatova, la lap dance grammaticale di Amelia Rosselli, la feroce verbosità di Emily Dickinson, che vestiva sempre di bianco, stava reclusa in camera sua, e la ‘dolce vita’ era tutta nel suo adorabile cervello. Che donna. Le grandi donne non si adorano e non si chiavano. Si leggono.

Davide Brullo

L'articolo Modesta proposta: Premio Strega postumo a Marina Ripa di Meana. Ha più palle lei di tutto il Colosseo degli scrittori italiani odierni proviene da Pangea.

from pangea.news http://ift.tt/2qGxhH6

[hellotoxoplasma]

Carnivàle 1x12

Norman's greatest sin.

Part of what made Brother Justin such an interesting character through the first season was how hard he tried to be the good guy.

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Carnivàle (TV Series) - S1/E11, 'Day of the Dead' (2003) Ralph Waite as Reverend Norman Balthus

Watching this, I was reminded of how much of a boner I had for Ralph Waite.

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