M HKA Ensembles

Book, 18.9 x 12.4 cm, 350 p., language : French, publisher : Éditions Gallimard, Paris, Édition 2001 (Ouvrage reproduit par procédé photomécanique), ISBN : 2-07-074211-3.

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp (Inv. no. B 2027/41).

Literary synopsis

In 1959, Klossowski published a novel, La Révocation de l’Edit de Nantes, and the following year Le souffleur which, together with Roberte ce soir (1954), would form the erotic trilogy Les lois de l’hospitalité (1965). This book turns the vicious repetitions of the Sadean vision into an oddly cheerful procession of philosophical and carnal episodes. An ageing cleric, Octave, institutes an eccentric law in his household: the ‘rule of hospitality’ invites any guest to take advantage of his wife, Roberte. Their nephew Antoine looks on, bemused by but attracted to this odd arrangement, and to the scurrilous dialogues and couplings to which it gives rise.

Relation of the novel to the artist’s practice

Fearful of censorship, Klossowski’s publisher Jérôme Lindon decided that the book should appear as a deluxe limited edition, illustrated by Balthus. When his drawings failed to meet Klossowski’s requirements, Balthus suggested that Pierre provide his own drawings. The result is a series of images that replicate the novel’s key carnal moments: the long-suffering, though apparently serene Roberte, her skirt unaccountably ablaze, is swiftly un-dressed by a mysterious male figure. Octave encourages the subsequent attacks on his wife, somehow convinced that these dramatic interludes will reveal to him her spiritual essence.

- Brian Dillon