La cellule de moi-même emplit d’étonnement
La muraille peinte à la chaux de mon secret.
Pierre Jean Jouve, Les Noces, 1925-1931
An abandoned cottage in the chinese province of Chongqing still remains an enduring mystery. Nobody knows who felt the overpowering compulsion to cover its walls from top to bottom with intriguing chinese calligraphy. It is believed to be the work of a vagrant who has now disappeared from the place, feeling the urge to leave his secret penned on walls behind him. His narrative has now established itself as an epic thriller masterpiece widely circulating on the net.
One excerpt reads: "I was 17... I have reactions like lightning, hearing like a bat, my vision is like a hawk, and I am as strong as a general."
Unfortunataly no one knows who is the author and why he scrawled his text on the antic panels like tattoos.
It made me think of William Faulkner's home where he used walls for notetaking and probably provoking his wife too. The legend says that he penned the outline of the seven-day plot of A Fable on the panels of his Mississippi office. Her outraged wife had the walls repainted. Faulkner rebelled, rewrote his text and had the walls shellacked to ensure permanent record writing, the remains of which can be seen today at Rowan Oak.
It made me think of William Faulkner's home where he used walls for notetaking and probably provoking his wife too. The legend says that he penned the outline of the seven-day plot of A Fable on the panels of his Mississippi office. Her outraged wife had the walls repainted. Faulkner rebelled, rewrote his text and had the walls shellacked to ensure permanent record writing, the remains of which can be seen today at Rowan Oak.
1, 2 Photos Daily Express UK, 2009
3, 4 Photos du bureau de William Faulkner at Rowan Oak
5 Henri Le Fauconnier, Portrait cubiste de Pierre Jean Jouve, 1909 sur le site de Pierre Jean Jouve
