Depuis longtemps je me vantais de posséder tous les paysages possibles, et trouvais dérisoires les célébrités de la peinture et de la poésie moderne.
J'aimais les peintures idiotes, dessus de porte, décores, toiles de saltimbanques, enseignes, enluminures populaires; la littérature démodée, l'atin d'église, livres érotiques sans orthographe, romans de nos aieules, contes de fées, petits livres de l'enfance, opéras vieux, refrains niais, rhythmes naifs.
Je rêvais croisades, voyages de découvertes dont on n'a pas de realtions, républiques sans histoires, guerres de religion étouffées, révolutions de moeurs, deplacements de races et de continents: je croyais à tous le enchantements.
J'inventai le couleur des voyelles! - A noir, E blanc, I rouge, O bleu, U vert. Je réglai la forme et le mouvement de chaque consonne, et, avec des rythmes instinctifs, je me flatti d'inventer un verb poétique accesible, un jour ou l'autre, à tous les sens. Je réservais la traduction. Ce fut d'abord une étude. J'écrivais des silences, des nuits, je notais l'inexprimable. Je fixais des vertiges.
Alchemy of the Word
My turn. The history of one of my follies.
For ages I boasted of possessing all possible landscapes, and found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry absurd.
I loved absurd paintings, pictures over doorways , stage sets, carnival backdrops, billboards, bright coloured prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, erotic books with poor spelling, novels of grandmother’s day, fairy tales, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, naive rhythms.
I dreamt of crusades, unrecorded voyages of discovery, republics without histories, wars of suppressed religion, moral revolutions, movements of races and continents: I believed in every wonder.
I invented the colour of vowels! A black, E white, I red, O blue, U green.
I regulated the form and motion of every consonant, and, with instinctive rhythms, I flattered myself I’d created a poetic language, accessible some day to all the senses. I reserved the translation.
It was academic at first. I wrote of silences, nights, I expressed the inexpressible. I defined vertigos.
My turn. The history of one of my follies.
For ages I boasted of possessing all possible landscapes, and found the celebrities of modern painting and poetry absurd.
I loved absurd paintings, pictures over doorways , stage sets, carnival backdrops, billboards, bright coloured prints; unfashionable literature, church Latin, erotic books with poor spelling, novels of grandmother’s day, fairy tales, little books for children, old operas, empty refrains, naive rhythms.
I dreamt of crusades, unrecorded voyages of discovery, republics without histories, wars of suppressed religion, moral revolutions, movements of races and continents: I believed in every wonder.
I invented the colour of vowels! A black, E white, I red, O blue, U green.
I regulated the form and motion of every consonant, and, with instinctive rhythms, I flattered myself I’d created a poetic language, accessible some day to all the senses. I reserved the translation.
It was academic at first. I wrote of silences, nights, I expressed the inexpressible. I defined vertigos.
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