Gaby den Held

NATHAN BENILLOUCHE: 19-4-2013

"Equal relationships are like the Cold War"

Interview with Ángel Flores and Nathan Benillouche

Saskia Morgenstern

Angels, a lying soothsayer, a transsexual singer, a lady with a mustache, Grace Jones as a goddess of love: a colorful parade of characters pass by in the tragic, but imaginative novel Charlie Dark.

Trailer and promo 22-2-2013

Made with very basic means: a simple film editing program and my voice recorded with the webcam. However, this comes close to the atmosphere I was looking for. The atmosphere of brooding tension is there. The trailer and promo don't need to explain what the novel is about. They are to promote and to excite.

Charlie Dark Promo (01:03) Youtube/Vimeo

Charlie Dark Trailer (02:11) Youtube/Vimeo

Jimmy Lucky 18-4-2013

This is Nathan Benillouche! I thought, when I saw this painting again in the magazine last weekend of my newspaper. I love it. It is from Nola Hatterman (1899-1984). 'Op het terras'(On the terras) shows the revue artist Jimmy van der Lak who performed under the name Jimmy Lucky. It supposed to be painted as part of an advertising campaign for the beer brand Amstel, but the brewer withdrew the order when he saw a black man was portrayed.

About the painting and Nola Hatterman:

Un Chant d'Amour 21-4-2013

This hymn of poetic sensuality and only film of JEAN GENET (in collaboration with Nico Papa Takis) is from 1950, but was immediately considered pornograpic. The film was distributed only in private circles. The actual premiere took place in 1975.

It is a film without dialogue and originally without music band. In 2005 the French music group Mansfield.TYA issued a "cine-concert" with this film.

The music in the clip on Youtube is from Simon Fisher Turner (album " Music from films you should have seen")

Un Chant d'Amour

The dry humor of STEREO TOTAL, a Berlin-based French-German duo comprising Françoise Cactus (born Françoise Van Hove) and Brezel Göring (aka Friedrich von Finsterwalde, born Friedrich Ziegler), and the deadly serious eroticism of Jean Genet are a nice mix.

Stereo Total: Johnny

Moon 23-5-2013

Recently started writing a new novel. The working title is MOON. While writing my first novel CHARLIE DARK, I have developed a style that combines elements from the fairy tale genre, magic realism and the erotic thriller. This fusion of styles I will develop further. I will also use elements of the children's book genre. Much of the novel will take place during the childhood of the main character: Moon. Moon is a gorgeous little boy who knows at a very young age that he is actually a girl.

Edith Sitwell 31-5-2013

I am not eccentric. It's just that I am more alive than most people. I am an unpopular electric eel set in a pond of goldfish.

The English poet Edith Sitwell (7 September 1887 – 9 December 1964) had a striking appearance. Picasso described her face as a 'collecter's item', and Cecil Beaton described her as 'a tall graceful scarecrow'. Over the years her coths became more and more eccentric. Edith Sitwell came from an old aristocratic family but had an unhappy and loveless childhood. Her strict father forced her to wear a steel corset to correct the state of her spine. When she was twenty five she moved to London with her governess Helen Rootham. She began writing avant-garde poems that caused quite a fuss and aroused the disgust of traditionalists. FAÇADE (1923), for example, is a rap avant la lettre, with accompanying music by William Walton. But she impressed with her poems about the 2nd World War, like STILL FALLS THE RAIN (1941), written after the air raids on London, and to music by Benjamin Britten. After the war, she finally got recognition for her art. She received numerous awards and joined the Order of the British Empire.

Edith Sitwell interviewed by John Freeman

From: FACE TO FACE (fragment)

Still falls the rain

More on Edith Sitwell

Roger Peyrefitte 28-5-2013

Roger Peyrefitte (17 August 1907-5 November 2000) was a French writer, diplomat and a defender of gay rights. He wrote novels that were mostly gay related and biographical as LES AMITIÉS PARTICULIÈRES (1944), which was filmed in 1964. On the set he meets the the 12-year-old Alain-Philippe Malagnac d'Argens de Villèle. They maintained a lifelong friendship. Alain married later on with singer and artist Amanda Lear. Roger Peyrefitte was controversial because of his sharp tongue and pen. In April 1976, after Pope Paul VI had condemned homosexuality in a homily, Peyrefitte accused him of being a closet homosexual.

Part 1/7 from the film Les amitiés particulières (Jean Delannoy)

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Arnold Spauwen14-6-2013

The Dutch writer and poet Arnold Spauwen recently has passed away. His health was going downhill for some time, but still, when I heard of his death, it shocked me. I know him since 1984, that’s a long time. The flamboyant, brilliant inimitable Arnold. This crazy Arnold. Such an honest soul. I will miss him so. He didn’t had a breakthrough with his work, but he never lost his faith in himself and his art. He truly is an example!

For Arnold (Dutch)

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Steven Arnold4-7-2013

The black & white tableau vivants from the American artist Steven Arnold (1943-1994) are unparalleled grotesque and fantastic. Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol were great admirers of his work. Especially after seeing his surrealist film LUMINOUS PROCURESS, featuring THE COCKETTES, a legendary group of drag queens.

Documentary about Steven Arnold (fragment)

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Vladimir Clavijo Telepnev 5-7-2013

The sepia colored pictures seem the work of a long-forgotten photographer from the Victorian era. But Vladimir Clavijo Telepnev was born in 1962 in Moscow. His images are nostalgic but transcend cheap sentiment. You are drawn into a magical world that seem long gone. In a pleasant way you get intoxicated. At the same time you're beginning to feel uncomfortable, a somehow creepy feeling. You realize that something is wrong. But it's too late.

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Gods of the night12-7-2013

The cultural life in Berlin bursted loose during the Weimar Republic (1918/1919-1933). Two artists in particular embodied this longing for artistic freedom: ANITA BERBER (1899-1928) and SEBASTIAN DROSTE (1892-1927). In the short time they lived and worked together they presented themselves averse taboos and anti-bourgeois. Their androgynous nude dances were no casual sex shows. They wanted to reach a state of ecstasy beyond mundane life and simple pleasure. A complex state of lust, purity, desire, horror and deep humanity. Some titles of their shows were "Suicide, Morphium, and Madhouse. Together they also released a book with poems and pictures titled ‘Dances of Vice, Horror, and Ecstasy '.

In 1987 ROSA VON PRAUNHEIM made a film about Anita Berber: "Anita, Tänze des Lasters’ with LOTTI HUBER.

More on Anita Berber and Sebastian Droste:

Anita Berber

Sebastian Droste:

Dances of Vice, Horror, and Ecstasy

Opening scene from: ‘Anita, Tänze des Lasters’

Moon (VI) 22-8-2013

Now I thought that as a contrast to the main character Moon (which is angelic and introverted), his friend Rik must be a tough boy. And he plays American football. But I know nothing about American football! I must watch American football on sportnet. Very atypical for me, I can assure you. Why don't I just send the boy to soccer?

Moon (V) 22-8-2013

The synopsis of my 2nd novel MOON:

Moon is a beautiful boy who knows at a very young age that he is actually a girl. Tough little Rik is in love with Moon. Moon tells him fantastic stories about Louis, a frog who is actually a baron. Rik is jealous of Louis and becomes almost possessed by Moon. They lose sight of each other for years. Much later, Moon has become a gorgeous woman and a fashion model, Rik meets her again. He is a journalist and will interview her.

Andrej Dúbravský 26-8-2013

The young Slovenian artist Andrej Dúbravský (1987) captures the boisterous narcissism and riotous uninhibited sexuality of adolescence in his paintings and drawings of boys who, often in groups, enjoy the great outdoors. The rabbit ears refer to the ears of a faun. The viewer feels like a voyeur who is drawn into Andrej's world, revealed by his paintings, drawings, but also through private pictures and home videos.

More on Andrej Dúbravský

Moon (IV) 21-8-2013

My 2nd novel (working title: Moon) is slowly taking shape. By making a sort of mood- and storyboard I try to visualize the story so the main characters will become, also for myself people of flesh and blood.

Must also decide whether it will be a full-blooded youth novel, or a story with elements of a youth novel (for both adults and children). That defines 'how far' I can go in terms of tension, drama and eroticism.

Louis Aragon 21-8-2013

He had his most surreal experience in his younger years. How alienating it must be when your foster mother turns out to be your grandmother, and your real mother is your sister. And all to hide the fact that he was an illegitimate child. The writer and poet LOUIS ARAGON (1897, Paris—1982, Paris), was, together with André Breton and Philippe Soupault, one of the founders of the surrealist movement. His conversion to communism would later cause a break with his friends. His love for communism was not uncritical. He strongly condemned the heavy-handed suppression of the Prague Spring.

Over the years the style of his novels developed from surreal (LE PAYSAN DE PARIS) via social realism (LES COMMUNISTES) back to surrealism (BLANCHE OU L'OUBLIÉ). His poetry was interpreted by many composers and chansonniers, including Jean Ferrat, Georges Brassens and Léo Ferré.

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Louis Aragon reads from ELSA

Jean Ferrat sings UN JOUR, UN JOUR (text Louis Aragon)

Preface to PARIS PEASANT (Le Paysan de Paris)

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Matthew Albanese 31-8-2013

Matthew Albanese (1983) photographs miniature worlds he creates himself. Fire-breathing volcanoes, tornadoes, lunar landscapes, a burning house. The material and how it responds to the light is essential for him. “How To Breathe Underwater” for instance, is made from walnuts, poured and cast candle wax, cables, glitter, peanut shells, flock, plaster, wire, starfish, compressed moss, jellybeans, sponges, coated seashells and toothpaste.

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Wolfgang Herrndorf

12-9-2013 Movies, visual arts, the stories of the past, current events and the news are my inspiration. And literature? If there is a writer who inspires me and with whom I feel related, it would be WOLFGANG HERRNDORF. Sadly he passed away recently. He had a brain tumor and before his end was near he commited suicide. The reason for my fascination for him as a writer lies in his extraordinary imaginative style, which seems limitless. His stories are unclassifiable. His novel TSCHICK, about two boys who go on an adventure in a stolen lada, is a road movie, a youth novel, adult literature and thriller all together. And above all: who gives a damn about the genre when you posses the power of telling a good story?

More on Wolfgang Herrndorf

Wolfgang Herrndorf reads from TSCHICK

Uncle Cornelis

12-9-2013 Moon (XV): fragment 9

Uncle Cornelis had the appearance of a rough sailor with a wild beard and an earring and looked like he was a hundred years old. But he appeared to be a kindly old man. He was smoking a pipe in front of his shop. Above the storefront one could read: De wrâld fan Cornelis Quant. Poppedokter en modelbouwer (Cornelis Quant's world. Doll's doctor and model maker).

Saskia 1-9-2013

Moon (XII): fragment 6

Her face, crowned with dark colored henna hair in pageboy style, was powdered white, she had bright red lips and heavily made, kohl-rimmed eyes. The pantsuit she was wearing, printed with large rectangular brightly colored patterns, made her look like a work of art.

Amsterdam girl

14-9-2013 Moon (XVI): fragment 10

I knew the house well. For centuries a wealthy merchant family lived here. The last merchant, Lambert Humalda, seemed to die childless. However, he married at elderly age with his housemaid who bore him a son at the very last minute. That gave a lot of consternation. She also had the dubious reputation of a loosely moraled Amsterdam girl.

Party

14-9-2013 Moon (XVII): fragment 11

The room was festively decorated with garlands and balloons. The large table was covered with a nice tablecloth and there were three birthday cakes displayed on an étagère. Beside there were decanters with different types of soft drinks. Moon sat at the head of the table, on a decorated chair. Before him on the table layed a paper hat.

Bisu

24-9-2013 Moon: fragment 14

There are people in Sulawesi, an island of the Indonesian archipelago, who distinguish five sexes. The Bugis!"

"Five sexes? What are they?

"Oroane, Makkunrai, Bissu, Calabai and Calalai.

Oroane and Makkunrai are man and women as we know them traditionally. Bissu are hermaphrodites. They can have feminine characteristics but also wear a beard and mustache. A Calabai is a feminine man and a Calalai is a masculine woman."

"Extraordinary!"

"Do you think so? It's quite common over there. They each have their role in society and no one is forced to be only man or woman. That's the way it should be in the whole world"

Cape

23-9-2013 Moon: fragment 13

When I opened my eyes I saw a figure sitting on the chaise longue next to me. He wore a long black cape with a burgundy lining. A hood hid his face, but I knew he was looking at me. He smoked the hookah. Mesmerized, I watched him blowing beautiful smoke figures with utmost concentration.

Francesco Romoli

23-9-2013 Yellowed family pictures combined with science fiction. People who slowly change into robots. Surrealistic townscapes that look like the interior of a gigantic showbox. The Italian artist FRANCESCO ROMOLI wants to create worlds that do not exist. Using technology from the graphic arts and photography and armed with his unbridled imagination he succeeds in making art that is both estranging and familiair.

More on Francesco Romoli

Napoleon

23-9-2013 Moon (XVIII): fragment 12

The women were shouting excitedly when Moon was hoisted upon on the shoulders of Freek. Samira, the lady with the hair beads, saw the paper hat that had fallen on the ground. She first put it on her own head, then walked to Moon. She smiled sweetly.

"Pretty boy," she said, lisping, while she put the hat on his head.

"Little Napoleon!", cried the voluptuous blonde.

Janka

25-10-2013 Moon (XXI): fragment 15

Janka was the prettiest girl in my class. How many times I watched her during the lesson. How often have I followed her out of school as she walked home with her friends. Sometimes she was alone, as this afternoon. She stood at the bridge over the Falomster faert. The sun shone through her white dress. But I only saw Moon. He wore Janka's dress. Janka was Moon. Moon was Janka. His milky skin, his eyes, his mouth. How would it be like to kiss that mouth?

Willie

8-12-2013 Moon: fragment 17

"Amazing what these doctors can do nowadays. Does it take long, such an operation?"

"No idea really, but I guess it's going to take a while," said Moon. "I think they'll push your Willie inside."

Boele looked at him in horror.