AN
UNTELLABLE STORY
A dramatic
Confession
THE NINETEEN
STATIONS OF SARAPHIC LOVE
James Crittle, a famous pilot of the French Air Force, later
turned university professor, on February 18, 2015, was found dead in full uniform
Rue Montmartre in Paris.
He had used some cyanide to put an end to his life. The French Air Force took
over his funeral in Bordeaux,
but Joseph and Magdalena Seth, two young people who had been his friends up to
three years before when James Crittle stepped out of their life without any
explanation, hearing the news on the radio decided to claim his body since he
had no known direct relatives.
They are entrusted then with an important envelope addressed
to them and that contains the manuscript of this “Untellable Story” and my name
and contact. I had been James Crittle’s friend some fifty years earlier when I
was going to the university and met him then. He had obviously kept track of me
over these years.
I here try to give you his confession, since he calls it a
confession, about his first twenty years in this life and I just try to put, as
far as I can, this text into perspective with an introduction. Joseph and
Magdalena Seth added a short conclusion. Most of the pictures and illustrations
were in the initial envelope. We decided to use them, with some prudence though
because some of the people on these pictures are totally unknown to us and they
were not identified.
We also retained some documents from East Germany and the USA and his military papers,
considering they had nothing to do with this “Untellable Story.”
Jacques
COULARDEAU
Olliergues,
France
March 14, 2015
Format : Format
Kindle
Nombre de pages
de l'édition imprimée : 201 pages
Utilisation simultanée de
l'appareil : Illimité
Editeur : Editions La
Dondaine; Édition : 1 (13 mars 2015)
Vendu par
: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
Langue : Anglais
ASIN: B00UP4CX88
$
8.51 - EUR 7,84
Percutio
EXCERPTS
Crucified Nightmare 1 to 12, + two poems inspired by Hildegard von
Bingen [Kyrie Eleison
(Coutras, Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste) & You need eternity (Bordeaux, Basilique Saint
Seurin)]
Excerpted
from An
Untellable Story, a dramatic confession, The Nineteen Stations of Saraphic Love,
Amazon Kindle 13 mars 2015, in
Percutio N°9, 2015,
Bill Direen, ed., Editions de Titus, Dunedin, New Zealand,
by Jacques Coulardeau in 2015.
AN OPINION
A certain 'Je ne sais quoi' —
Percutio with JAAM
It comes from the Deep
South of Aotearoa-New Zealand, where it seems so many distinctive poets reign,
but it resides in France.
It comes out irregularly. It features a bewildering array of
internationally-based contributors, ranging from 'conventional' poets through
to off-the-wall experimentalists. For example, Jacques Coulardeau who,
'has contributed to Percutio almost since its inception. He is
a very interesting outsider on the French 'scene'. He researches what he wants
to, but has a strong interest in US politics and European music'. I -
Rapatahana - can only wonder as regards the existential je ne sais quoi of an
outsider in outsider France, home of Camus, who lent this title, of course, to
Colin Wilson...such are the interesting personages found in this publication.
Indeed, William Direen, head sherang at Percutio and
a particularly interesting character himself, points out further about Jacques,
'He was recommended to me by Université Paris Dauphine, who saw in him a
renegade academic, and could not find a place for him within existing
structures'!
Percutio is the brainchild of
Direen. He writes, 'The magazine began when I realised that many of the people
I visited when I was overseas were writing, and they were unpublished. They
were often my friends and their writing was of a high standard. They were also
constructively bridging cultures. Building bridges (poetic) rather than walls
(polemic), and describing reality rather than blowing their own trumpets.
That's where it came from.' For William there has always been a financial
struggle to produce a finished product- 'It has been a passion and not a job.'
He continues, 'You are
probably aware that Percutio is not funded nor supported in
any way by any national institution. It is registered as a periodical in
France, and for the moment we have simply continued with that, editing,
crediting , and giving writer bios in French...Significant French influence on
NZ culture has gone largely undocumented...Percutio also published writing by
German writers, and really, there is no editorial swing one way or the other.
We also had articles on Sri
Lanka and travel writing...'
Even gaining
distribution channels for the annual issue, has always been difficult, 'Until
last year it was distributed in New
Zealand by the time-honoured means of
passing around contributor copies or copies purchased online. In France,
however, people have been more supportive, with some support from individuals.'
Reiterates William, ' It has never managed to recoup all the costs
involved, but it is not a money-exercise. It is something I felt I had the qualifications
to do, as an English graduate and experienced editor; I was in the ideal
position to realise the project (travelling fairly often and meeting
unpublished, often neglected, and marvellous, writers and artists). With a
poetry magazine, someone has to foot the bill, but I have been pleasantly
surprised each year by material assistance from unexpected quarters.'
Direen continues in
this surprised mode, 'This year, Atuanui Press/Titus Books in
Auckland (chief practical collaborator and serious business partner for
Percutio) have undertaken to present it to bookshops the length of NZ, and this
has meant that it is, for the first time, being offered to people outside the
circles of the contributors. i.e. the "book-buying public" (which is,
of course, is its own information system with it own standards and industry
ethics). I'm very happy about this.'
He has quite definite
views (about many things, actually) but most especially regarding poetry within
his home country of Aotearoa-New Zealand, 'Published Novazelandian/Aotearoan
poetry I have had the pleasure to read seems to me to have been strongly
influenced by contemporaneous economic philosophies. I do think that more than
ever NZ poets need affordable access to literature, and they have to be able to
read it in places where they can think about the content. So printed books (or,
eventually, fully evolved electronic books) should be available for sale or
sharing, and libraries need to acquire works that may seem to defy
market-driven logic. This is very important for poets in the most isolated
country in the world. Literature frees the mind. The lack of it may stultify
and turn us into economic slaves.' And to conclude, Direen states, 'What would
I like to see? More of the good, and less of the terrible...Percutio does
carry a lot of daring work, but , as mentioned, isn't that what poetry is?
Isn't that what literature should be...too much poetry, particularly on the
web, is really a nice layout on the page for ideas that might be better
expressed in prose, and especially in journalism. In fact, for the most part,
it IS prose.'
I conclude this
summary of this interesting poetry publication with work from Direen, himself
also a well-known musician, including being in The Bilders with
Brett Cross. It is an extract from a longer poem called 'Centre'. It is
a reminiscence of Wellington,
when Direen attended a course in Electronic Music run by Douglas Lilburn.
But recall light things
... Lilburn in The Glen ... cicadas,
His studio an analog of the
Garden.
I saw him listening and heard
Welcoming and thereafter
Waves noise sense-syllabics inflected by natural context,
Death, sun and leaf, growth and predation,
And such desperate clausal anomalies as our verbal selves
Our adventurous ones self-imperilled
Purchasing disturbances
Of optic and audio messaging
paths.
(NB. Direen believes
that, 'I think this issue P2015 will be the last issue of Percutio...I
doubt I will have the time or money to edit it next year...')
Cover photo credits
are due to: David McKenzie - 2015; Catherine James - 2012; Nigel Bunn - 2008;
Arno Loeffler - 2007. William Direen was happier to have these here, rather
than his own visage.
☼♀♂☼
Percutio & The Nineteen
Stations of Saraphic Love
Abstract:
Parcutio
It features a bewildering array of internationally-based contributors, ranging
from 'conventional' poets through to off-the-wall experimentalists. For
example, Jacques Coulardeau who, 'has contributed to Percutio almost since its
inception. He is a very interesting outsider on the French 'scene'. He
researches what he wants to, but has a strong interest in US politics and
European music'. I - Rapatahana - can only wonder as regards the existential je
ne sais quoi of an outsider in outsider France, home of Camus, who lent this
title, of course, to Colin Wilson...such are the interesting personages found
in this publication.
« James Crittle, a famous pilot of the French Air Force, later turned
university professor, on February 18, 2015, was found dead in full uniform Rue
Montmartre in Paris.
He had used some cyanide to put an end to his life. The French Air Force took
over his funeral in Bordeaux,
but Joseph and Magdalena Seth, two young people who had been his friends up to
three years before when James Crittle stepped out of their life without any
explanation, hearing the news on the radio decided to claim his body since he
had no known direct relatives.
They
are entrusted then with an important envelope addressed to them and that
contains the manuscript of this “Untellable Story” and my name and contact. I
had been James Crittle’s friend some fifty years earlier when I was going to
the university and met him then. He had obviously kept track of me over these
years. . . »
Research Interests:
☼♀♂☼
# posted by Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU @ 1:39 PM