Harmonian Eclogue – by Leconte de Lisle

The avant-socialist poet and theorist Leconte de Lisle was the main initiator of what became known as the Parnassian movement, which rejected easily consumed, utilitarian language and the cult of personal expression, instead approaching the craft of writing as a vehicle for mysticism, which was expressed through syncretic, hermetic mergings & re-workings of world mythologies. Parnassianism’s frequent characterization as apolitical or ivory-tower does not stand up to the scrutiny of many of the texts, nor the activities and commitments of many of its practitioners.

Leconte de Lisle himself was a fervent proponent of Fourierist socialism, and was involved with a string of Fourierist journals. He participated in the 1848 Revolution, though his reputation in radical circles eventually suffered when it was revealed that he later accepted a pension from Napoléon III’s authoritarian regime in exchange for his silence after the coup. 

This Parnassian-Fourierist allegorical dialogue, a mytho-radical riddle whose meaning only reveals itself through the reader’s active meditation, was published in 1846 in the Fourierist magazine Le Phalange (The Phalanx).

5 pgs on folded 8.5” x 11.
March, A.Da. 107 (2025) $0.75 + s/h

Packed along with a few other free pamphlets tossed in! 
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