Of Kings and Things: Strange Tales and Decadent Poems by Count Eric Stanislaus Stenbock (Strange Attractor Press)

by Eric Stanislaus Stenbock

Other authorsDavid Tibet (Editor)

Paperback, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

PR5473.S35 A6

Genres

Horror

Fiction

Publication

Strange Attractor Press (2019), Edition: 1st, 360 pages

Description

An introduction to the Decadent writer Stanislaus Eric Stenbock for the general reader, offering morbid stories, suicidal poems, and an autobiographical essay. Described by W. B. Yeats as a "scholar, connoisseur, drunkard, poet, pervert, most charming of men," Count Stanislaus Eric Stenbock (1860-1895) is surely the greatest exemplar of the Decadent movement of the late nineteenth century. A friend of Aubrey Beardsley, patron of the extraordinary pre-Raphaelite artist Simeon Solomon, and contemporary of Oscar Wilde, Stenbock died at the age of thirty-six as a result of his addiction to opium and his alcoholism, having published just three slim volumes of suicidal poetry and one collection of morbid short stories. Stenbock was a homosexual convert to Roman Catholicism and owner of a serpent, a toad, and a dachshund called Trixie. It was said that toward the end of his life he was accompanied everywhere by a life-size wooden doll that he believed to be his son. His poems and stories are replete with queer, supernatural, mystical, and Satanic themes; original editions of his books are highly sought by collectors of recherché literature. Of Kings and Things is the first introduction to Stenbock's writing for the general reader, offering fifteen stories, eight poems and one autobiographical essay by this complex figure.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member datrappert

First, this is a beautiful edition with an an excellent introduction and some wonderful pictures of the author, printed on high quality paper. It's a great book to hold in your hands and read. These are not the complete works of Count Stenbock, but I presume the editor, who knows a great deal about

Stenbock and has edited some of his works previously, chose these because they are the best or the most representative. They are generally fun to read. Stenbock, who spoke several languages, wrote well. And his plots are certainly strange, though I'm not sure how decadent anything here is. Perhaps it depends on your state of mind. Reading these stories and poems (and one rather incongruous essay), I felt an immediate attraction and sympathy for the author. As I did when looking at the pictures of him, I felt that he would have been a fascinating person to know and have conversations with. His stories, though obviously written by an intelligent adult, often have a childlike innocence. They also have a childlike simplicity at times, which mars their effectiveness. In terms of the plots, there is nothing missing, but the narratives often lack complications or much suspense about where they are going. The atmospheres and ideas are good, but the execution is lacking. Or perhaps I'm judging them wrong. I'm sure Count Stenbock himself loved his stories--his world was too complicated already. Overall, the poems may be of higher quality. They have some nice images and definitely have ambiguities the stories lack. One or two are also more direct about same-sex love, a subject that naturally wends its way through Stenbock's works. To summarize, this is a book I'm glad I read because it introduced me to a fascinating, though minor, character. As someone who loves stories of this type, I also appreciated my moments of immersion into his character and obsessions. I would probably re-read the poetry, though I'm not sure about the stories.

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