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Anonymous
Is Leon Bloy unknown in the USA? 2016-07-19 03:29:19 Post No. 8295719
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Is Leon Bloy unknown in the USA? 2016-07-19 03:29:19 Post No. 8295719
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Bloy
"Bloy is quoted in the epigraph at the beginning of Graham Greene's novel The End of the Affair and in the essay "The Mirror of Enigmas" by the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, who acknowledged his debt to him by naming him in the foreword to his short story collection "Artifices" as one of seven authors who were in "the heterogeneous list of the writers I am continually re-reading". In his novel The Harp and the Shadow, Alejo Carpentier excoriates Bloy as a raving, Columbus-defending lunatic during Vatican deliberations over the explorer's canonization. Bloy is also quoted at the beginning of John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, and there are several quotations from his Letters to my Fiancée in Charles Williams's anthology The New Christian Year.[9] Le Désespéré was republished in 2005 by Editions Underbahn with a preface by Maurice G. Dantec.[citation needed] In Chile historian Jaime Eyzaguirre came to be influenced by Bloy's writings.[10]
According to the historian John Connelly, Bloy's Le Salut par les Juifs, with its apocalyptically radical interpretation of chapters 9-11 of Paul's Letter to the Romans, had a major influence on the Catholic theologians of Vatican Council II responsible for section 4 of the Council's declaration Nostra aetate, the doctrinal basis for a revolutionary change in the Catholic Church's attitude to Judaism.[11]
In 2013, Pope Francis surprised many by quoting Bloy during his first homily as pope.[3]
Bloy and his effect on 21st century French scholars make a significant appearance in Michel Houellebecq's 2015 novel Submission.!
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>>8295719
omg is that fucking Nietzsche???!!
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im aussie i only first heard of him on /lit/
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He's probably one of the most interesting late 19th century writers and he's basically unknown outside of France, it's a shame really.
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>>8295719
im pretty sure hes mentioned in a houellebecq novel (soumission?) and thats where my familiarity with him ends.
glad i could help
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>>8296028
wow i didnt even read the full op
anyways.....
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>>8296007
he is pretty popular in Spain and Latin America, mainly among Catholics, but then, Borges liked him too.
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US here. We have absolutely no fucking clue who this guy is. I've never heard of him outside /lit/, I can't even name one of his works, nor have I ever seen one irl. I searched amazon and ebay and only two titles appeared from unknown publishers. Plus his goodreads page is in French. This madman has evaded description from all our normal channels. We are flying blind here.
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Kafka and Jünger said good things on him too.
He's absolutely unknown in anglo countries, and not even in France except for these Houellebecq wannabees.
Major author.
You need to read the Counter-Revolution (especially Blanc de Saint Bonnet's De la douleur), Ernest Hello, and the pre-decadentists or converts like Barbey, Villiers de L'Isle-Adam and late Huysmans.
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>He's absolutely unknown in anglo countries, and not even in France
Every French right-wing reader knows him. I see him mentioned more often than authors like Barbey d'Aurevilly or Villiers de l'Isle-Adam.
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>>8295719
US here. I remember Borges praising him several times in essays. I read APfOM but don't recall that quotation, but if it was in the beginning that prob has to do with the narrator teaching at a catholic school.
beyond that, I can assure you I have NEVER heard of him.
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I read an anthology of French Decadent Fiction, didn't love his short stories. Saw one of his books put out by Wakefield Press at this expensive Italian-named bookstore near the Flatiron Building in Manhattan. Just saw him referenced in Ernesto Sabato's The Tunnel.
This thread is actually the first mention I've seen of him on /lit/.
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>>8298032
I'm talking about generally.
The average right-winger isn't that well-read. But when he is, of course he knows about Bloy.
>>8298368
Try Le désespéré or La femme pauvre (don't know how they translated the titles) if you're interested in him. I don't think the rest of his oeuvre is available in English, but if somehow you manage to get your hand on it, try reading some of his more spiritual texts like his apology of Colombus, L'âme de Napoleon, or maybe Le Salut par les Juifs.
He's really diverse.
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