TWO NOVELS BY LEON BLOY
in
Le Sang du pauvre,
this coin "pierces the poor man's hand, falls,
pierces the earth, makes holes in the suns, flies across the firmament,
and compromises the universe." In this context Bloy gives to such
mysterious interrelatedness of things the name of "reversibility"–
((nom phiLosophe du grand dogme de La communion des saints."
Clearly
it
is not philosophy .as the academies understand it. Remy
de Gourmont's verdict on Bloy was that his book appeared to be
the result of a collaboration between St. Thomas Aquinas and Gar–
gantua. At the same time, such asides are not mere rhetorical flourish.
Bloy's view of money was entirely consistent.
aL'argent, c'est Le sang
du pauvre,"
is the key-statement. Money flows through the universe
like blood, and the rich man is a cannibal.
But all the profane functions enter into the scheme of redemp–
tion. Sex, for instance. The body of any woman is, for Bloy, the
body of the Blessed Virgin, a tabernacle of Christ. The body of a
woman is, moreover (not "represents" but "is"), the Garden of
Eden. This being so, it is clear that prostitution
is
more than eco–
nomic misfortune, and marriages of convenience or the social activities
of an
allumeuse
cosmic disasters. A somber epithalamion in
The
Woman Who Was Poor
describes what happens to the universe when
Uopold and Clotilde marry. In the space of a minute, a hundred
persons have died and a hundred are born,
aune centaine de vagisse–
ments et une centaine de derniers soupirs."
In an hour's time, there
are six thousand corpses under the bed. For the joy of lovers must
be paid. In order that two people may abstract themselves for a
while from the suffering world, the sufferings of the rest of mankind
are increased.
<<Au moment meme ou vous beLerez de voLupte,"
through the walls of the marriage-chamber may be heard the weep–
ing and the gnashing of teeth of the man who had no wedding
garment and was cast into outer darkness.
aL'Heure qui passe!
Voyez-vous ce de
file
de soixante Minutes freLes aux talons d'airain
dont chacune ecrase La terre.
... "
An equally remarkable passage in
SaLut par Les ]uifs
.describes
the effect of the Crucifixion upon the animals during the period
when darkness covered the earth. In
La Femme pauvre,
Marchenoir
discusses the animals with Clotilde. Marchenoir insists that the animals
suffer not only through but for man. Clotilde desires to know whether
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