Hélène Picard / Brian Stableford
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Sabbat, by Hélène Picard (1873-1945), first published in 1923, is one of the most forthright contributions to the rich French tradition of 'literary Satanism.' It was issued as part of a 'Collection Colette,' and is dedicated to Colette, who also provided the preface, the brief text of which implies strongly that the book was commissioned by her. Seeing Satan emerging from a poppy and accepting him as her poetic savior, Picard sets forth in this series of interlocked prose-poems to unpack the notion of Satanism and specify its real implications, with a surreal flamboyance that is typically 'decadent' and which Baudelaire would surely have understood and approved of. Though exceedingly obscure, Sabbat, here presented for the first time in English, in a fine translation by Brian Stableford, is a very intriguing work, of considerable importance as a late addition to the canon of Decadent literature, which deserves to be much more widely read and appreciated.
