Parisian Prowlers: Mapping Maldoror, Mervyn, and Lautréamont in Paris

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the final 'chant' of Les Chants de Maldoror (1869) by the Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse). In the enigmatic final scenes, Maldoror stalks and kills a young English man, Mervyn, in the streets of Paris. The murder is detailed in striking geographic detail, and Parisian monuments feature prominently in the young man's demise. Combining close readings with original maps of these final scenes, I compare the Paris of Lautréamont's literary imagination with the city's historic, cartographic reality to understand what the representation of the city says about the author's perception of fiction and his literary legacy.