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Durian
& Grenadine Gray; Eds. Jerome Fletcher, Rebecca Stephens.
The Dedalus Book of
Decadent Saints.
Dedalus, 8 Jan 2004.
256pp.
Paperback.
ISBN 1903517141.
Publisher's
recommended price £9.99
Dedalus
is delighted to announce the discovery of an extraordinary collection
of letters among the archives of the convent of Our Lady of Thorns in
Krakow, Poland. This serendipitous find has resulted in the publication
of a hitherto unknown chapter from the life of arch-pervert and silken
aesthete, Durian Gray.
The Dedalus Book of
Decadent Saints comprises the major part of a correspondence
between Durian and his sister, Grenadine, who from the age of 13 to 18
was brought up by the Sisters of the Bleeding Heart. These letters
paint an intimate portrait of the dreams, fantasies, aspirations and
naive curiosity of the young Grenadine, intrigued and appalled by the
world outside the confines of the nunnery. She looks to her elder
brother to provide her with an éducation
sentimentale, which he does by drawing upon his almost
encyclopaedic knowledge of the Lives of the Christian Saints. In
the course of their correspondence, Durian Gray assembles the most
bizarre and ungodly communion of ecstatics, stigmatics, transsexuals,
mutilators and martyrs as examples of how to lead the 'devout'
life. He remarks: "Sweet girl, these calm symbols of the wounded
world's wild pain do very well as instructions in theory. But you
cannot endlessly postpone putting your studies into practice."
And the final letters provide a glimpse of the terrifying consequences
this has for the young Grenadine...
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