The Decadent Handbook/Dedalus Books

Has anyone seen this book?

The Decadent Handbook

From the UK publisher Dedalus Books...They have a Decadence Section in their catalogue...

http://www.dedalusbooks.com/about.html

Is anyone familiar with this publisher?

absolutely! for this sort of thing, dedalus (and also tartarus press - though their volumes are a bit more limited and costly) is a godsend. The decadent handbook, i think, is a modern "how to" thing. But Dedalus has quite a few titles in its decadence catalogue that are also what could be referred to as "obscured classics" - there is the russian symbolist Briusov's Fiery Angel, the novels of Joris Huysmans, Gustav Meyrink, etc. The only draw back is that many of their titles, published in standard paperback format, go out of print fairly quickly and end up getting resold on amazon, etc., at inflated costs. They have a number of quality catalogs beyond the decadence line.

dedalus is apparently in some trouble.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/james_doyle/2007/12/sacrificing_britains_cul...

Interesting article, sad story.

That is a shame. I would hope that there might be enough of an outcry (and huge cash donations) to keep them from going under.

The sad fact seems to be that many readers' tastes are manufactured by the publishing industry (much like the story of what gets airplay on the radio... is there still radio, by the way?). If people would rather read Dan Brown or his English counterpart than Ramon Valle-Inclan, etc., independent publishers like Dedalus will not be ringing up sales large enough or long enough to stay in business.

I feel bad now having complained about the quality of the binding and paper Dedalus uses.

Please do sign the petition to keep Dedalus in business:

"If you value diversity in the publishing world then please help Dedalus by voicing your concerns by signing our on-line petition at:"

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/16111.html

Just signed it, and forwarded it to friends as well!

Done. Also bought The Dedalus Book of Russian Decadence as a sign of support.

I signed the petition as well. And that Book of Russian Decadence is sitting patiently in my Amazon shopping cart waiting for me to chuck a few other items in with it prior to hitting the checkout button.

I imagine at least some of us received an email yesterday from Dedalus sharing the happy news that they're being sponsored/subsidized for the next two years by a branch of Routledge known as Informa plc. For those who didn't and may be interested here's the text:

Dedalus is proud to announce that Informa plc, through its subsidiary company Routledge Books, an imprint of Taylor & Francis, will sponsor Dedalus for the next two years as part of Informa plc’s corporate responsibility programme.

This sponsorship means that Dedalus will be able to honour the commitments it has undertaken to its authors, translators, cultural institutions and other publishers. We will continue to encourage and support new writing, with special emphasis on the dialogue between cultures brought about by literature in translation

Dedalus’s readers can now look forward to translated fiction from Danish, Estonian, Flemish, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish in the next two years as well as more original English language fiction. Dedalus has just bought Made in Yaroslavl, a brilliant first novel by Jeremy Weingard, who lives in the East of England.

“Apart from financial support we hope to benefit from the technical expertise and advice of a large and successful publisher which should be of great benefit to Dedalus. We look forward to working with Routledge Books and making the most of the opportunities this sponsorship programme will provide for Dedalus.”
Eric Lane, M.D of Dedalus Publishers

For further details contact:
Eric Lane on 01487 832382
or email info@dedalusbooks.com

It's good news that Dedalus has been saved, although I wouldn't be surprised if this sponsorship ends up with a takeover.

The next few years could be grim for companies that receive arts funding - the money available via the Arts Council and the National Lottery is in decline due to it being siphoned off into Olympic projects.

>11 Jargoneer: Yeah, I hear you as far as the takeover thing. *sigh* But at least whatever contracts they had in the works appear to have been salvaged.

To tell the truth, I haven't been especially impressed by Dedalus' "new" fiction choices (too often they've been merely rather baroque variations on standard horror and paranormal fare) but their translation program is cherishable, and I would hate to see that end abruptly.

What horrible news! I've signed the petition as well. Curiously, I've noticed many Dedalus titles that have been sold out for a while are available again. I'm going to grab as many as I can afford before they all disappear.

I hope with this revival Dedalus will continue to expand its translations project - which is a noble effort. I'm not aware of anyone else translating the fiction of Valery Bryusov, Eca de Queiroz, or the works of Gustav Meyrinck. Many of their contemporary authors are worth picking up as well - particularly the Arabist/novelist Robert Irwin, David Madsen Confessions of a Flesheater, Javier Garcia Sanchez and Helmut Krausser.

The Dedalus Book of French Horror used to impossible to find - now it looks as though a few copies have turned up on Amazon.

You would be disappointed if you expected "horror stories" of the Anglo-American variety. Excepting the entries of Emile Erckmann and Alexandre Chatrian, this is mainly a collection of cruel tales and decadent "shockers" from authors such as Villiers, Catulle Mendes, Petrus Borel, Jean Richepin (from the collection Les Morts Bizzares), Huysmans and others. Borel and Richepin and some of the others are seldom translated into English.

I'm interested in Bruisov's (sp?) Fiery Angel and Grabinski's Dark Domain. SG is described as the "Polish Poe". Don't know much about either one. Recommended reading?

Also how's Huysmans' "Parisian Sketches"? Short stories, I assume. Worth getting? On a related note,
"Marthe" is an old favorite. (Both pubilshed by Dedalus.)

Re 16. Yes - both. Kamakura provided a bit of a write up on The Fiery Angel here http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=26319 . It is a sort of erudite-occult adventure novel.
If you enjoy tales of necrophilia and bold-faced adultery topped off with murder, and trains - Grabinski is a must. I think there are a couple of editions of the short stories out there.

Parisian Sketches is a quick read, one I enjoyed - though not memorably, I'm afraid (I do recall some descriptions of the diseased aspect of the outskirts of Paris). If you enjoy Huysmans' style, you should pick it up.

By the way, check http://dxsuperpremium.blogspot.com/ for a great review of The Fiery Angel, Vathek, and others (hope you don't mind, David!).

Well, Barny Noble has dropped a copy of The Decadent Handbook into the mail for me. I hope it helps.

Robert

Thankyou for the kind words and for reading my reviews. I hope my enthusiasm for the subject matter makes up in part for my ineptitude at writing. I am blogging for practice and never considered my blog worthy of this illustrious group.

By the way, when I ordered my copy of The Decadent Handbook at B&N(where I work), I noticed it was catagorized as a self improvement book, which I found extremely amusing.

Rather richer fare than Chicken Soup For The Soul.

I used to work in Crown books. Anyone remember them? In deep retrospect, one of my least disfiguring skid bids.

I love the way some bookstores, whose managers are unfamiliar with some of the titles, end up categorizing their books. I recently picked up a copy of Flowers of Evil that was in the "erotica" section (along with Norman O. Brown's Love's Body), because of the Beresford Egan illustrations. In the case of your book, though, I'd like to think they knew what they were up to. Let us know what you think it when you're through.

A couple of years ago I discovered Maldoror listed and shelved as a children's cookbook.

The Decadent Handbook came from Barny Noble's today. The editor, Rowan Pelling is a babe. The book is a collection of short pieces, essays I guess, about various aspects of decadence. Pelling says that decadence means having no hope for the future, but she mentions velvet a couple of time getting through her introduction.

It looks like fun (tee hee).

Robert

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I used to frequent a Goodwill bookstore where there were many bargains to be had, if you could track them down. I got into the habit of perusing EVERY SHELF so that I wouldn't miss a gem. As I have noted elsewhere, I remember spying a copy of Louisa May Alcott's Little Men on a shelf reserved for sexual issues.

Just got Dedalus 19th cent. french horror from ABE.
$12 + ship. Several sellers listing it for $50!

I was able to get a new copy of the Dedalus Book Of French Horror through B&N recently. Apparently Dedalus printed some more copies. If I had paid $50, it would have been a bargain for the Jean Lorrain and Gerard de Nerval stories alone. Such treasures. This collection is as good as it gets in my book. I've been searching for black irises and other "orchids of doom" for the garden ever since reading "One Possessed".

400% increase is a little steep for a new paperback.
It looks interesting, but it's not a rare old hardback.

I'm saving my pennies for Memoirs Of An Ether Drinker(Tartarus Press) by Jean Lorrain, which is currently going for $100, and Becalmed by J.K. Huysmans, which is fetching $160-$200. Both are paperbacks a couple of years out of print. Unfortunately they are the only translations of these works and are scarce.

Happily, Dedalus has some exciting new releases coming up; a new translation of Against Nature(A Rebours) by Brendan King on 05/28/2008, Vivo: The Life Of Gustav Meyrink by Mike Mitchell on 07/23/2008, and The Dedalus Book Of The 1960's: Turn Off Your Mind by Gary Lachman on 09/09/2008, among others.

Also, NYRB is releasing My Fantoms by Theophile Gautier on 07/15/2008.

The Tartarus Press edition of Lorrain is a hardback and some care went into its physical production, so it's decently priced at $100. Not so for Becalmed and dealers attempting sell it at prices like that should be noted and boycotted.

Thanks. I'll definitely invest in the Tartarus edition of Memoirs Of An Ether Drinker. I'll wait for a reasonably priced copy of Becalmed and save that cash for airfare as I'm hoping to visit Amsterdam this fall when The Library Of Hermetic Philosophy is having a Gustav Meyrink Exhibition.

One of many reasons Amsterdam is my favorite place.

http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl

Much better idea. (And save also for French lessons: Lorrain's M. de Bougrelon takes place in Amsterdam and remains untranslated). And thank you for the great link; I had never heard of the museum before.

I'm planning to enroll in a french class this fall. I've been obsessed with Huysmans and Baudelaire ever since I read A Rebours, La Bas, and Les Fleurs du Mal in translation in 1980, when I was a 15 year old punk rocker. Oscar Wilde led me to french literature back then and I've been in love ever since. It's so stupid that I haven't attempted to learn the language in all these years.
I want to study german also, as my latest obsessions are Meyrink and Kubin.
I missed the Hermetic Museum when I was in Amsterdam a couple of years ago. Next trip I'll make a point of visiting there and making a side trip to Bruges as well.