:21:01
In this room, a centre
of the literary storm
:21:04
that is to sweep over Europe,
:21:06
are those who have already
rejected Naturalism,
:21:09
who are now seeking
an artistic or literary means
:21:12
of presenting the interior
macrocosm of the soul,
:21:16
peering into
the darkest abyss of man.
:21:20
Here, in the words of a historian,
:21:22
ideas change hands
"faster than mistresses."
:21:26
Here the writers feed upon
the stacatto genius in their midst,
:21:30
August Strindberg,
in self-exile from Sweden,
:21:34
where he has been condemned
as a blasphemer,
:21:37
where educationalists clamour
for the suppression of his books,
:21:41
and where he is spat upon
by parents in the streets.
:21:45
Within this room, all is discussed:
:21:48
art, black magic, spiritualism,
the philosophy of Nietzsche,
:21:53
the erotic work of
the Belgian etcher, Félicien Rops,
:21:56
such as Thievery and
Prostitution Rule The World.
:22:04
Richard Dehmel, currently writing
a cycle of poems about sex
:22:08
their purpose to raise sexual love
to the level of religious mysticism,
:22:13
shortly to be prosecuted
:22:15
because of his description
of a nun masturbating.
:22:19
Stanislav Przybyszewski,
:22:21
Polish-German author
and medical student
:22:24
involved with the occult,
studies satanism,
:22:29
who rewrote the opening
of the Gospel of St. John
:22:32
to read:
"In the beginning there was sex..."
:22:42
And Edvard Munch,
:22:43
famous overnight
as the centre of a storm
:22:47
that has rocked the German art world
to its very foundations.
:22:50
Already he has received invitations
to exhibit in Düsseldorf and Cologne
:22:56
and he has been prevailed upon
by the Berlin intellectuals