Claude Seignolle
La Malvenue

Finally, even in Italy, thanks to Edizioni Hypnos making the novel La Malvenue available and to Agenzia Alcatraz, which has just published Racconti macabri, people are starting to talk about the French writer Claude Seignolle (1917-2018), a name almost unknown in our country. On the other hand, the tendency of our publishing industry is to give space to North American horror, ignoring the tradition of European fantasy. Previously, only 2 sporadic editions of his production had been released, which are now difficult to find. In 1963, Le notti oscene, a free translation of Le Bahut Noir, was published in the "I romanzi diabolici" series. It's a volume that's almost impossible to find (unless you're very lucky, as happened to me). Apart from the story The Man with the Scythe published in the science fiction series Galassia, we have to wait almost 40 years for the collection La Notte di Halles, a volume translated and edited by Daniela Cirillo, which remained an isolated case and soon fell into oblivion. And to think that in France (where culture is still taken seriously) Seignolle is esteemed and known: particularly in the 60s, his popularity grew thanks to the publication of his works in the famous Marabout series directed by the expert of French fantasy Jean-Baptiste Baronian. Seignolle was published alongside the greats of Belgian literature of French expression like Jean Ray, Thomas Owen, and Michele de Ghelderode and with classics of European fantastic literature such as Gustav Meyrink, Hanns Heinz Ewers, Arthur Machen, and Bram Stoker.

La Malvenue is considered Seignolle's masterpiece. The French writer is steeped in the traditions of French folklore. Throughout his life, he devoted himself to collecting folk traditions in all their forms of expression, directly interviewing the village inhabitants. The material collected by Seignolle in several volumes forms the basis of many of his fantastic tales and undoubtedly also of the present La Malvenue. La Malvenue (literally she who is unwelcome, out of place) is a girl who grew up in a rural village of farmers devoted to fieldwork. She is marked on her forehead with a demonic sign and appears as an innocent maiden but, at the same time, prey to supernatural forces. She is viewed with suspicion, fear, and reverence. The character of La Malvenue has something decadent and fits into a tradition ranging from Theophile Gautier to Arthur Machen himself. She seems possessed by forces she cannot control but nonetheless lead her to ecstasy. Furthermore, it should not be forgotten that the great theme of Seignolle's work is that of the devil, a subject on which he also published several volumes such as Le Diable dans la tradition populaire and Les Evangelis du diable, the latter a veritable black bible of the occult. Seignolle is a master at realistically depicting the sunny yet dark landscape of the French countryside and also at outlining the rural context extremely effectively. In the most hidden recesses of the countryside (like "La Malnoue", a muddy swamp full of miasmas), Seignolle projects ancestral secrets as that of a mysterious and ancient statue that dates back to a mythical and mythological time. The head of the statue is found by Moarc'h, the father of La Malvenue, who will meet a terrible fate. The curse of the statue will continue to influence his daughter in a sort of endless nightmare. One thinks of Venus of Ille by Prosper Mérimée but also of the suggestions evoked by the Welsh writer Arthur Machen in painting the Welsh countryside in an exemplary manner, where ancient and ominous secrets are hidden. In any case, Seignolle's style and approach are extremely realistic: yet there is always the impression that the fantastic lurks under the ashes.

In conclusion, we are undoubtedly faced with an author to rediscover and reassess, along with other names of European fantasy brought to the forefront by the Marabout publishing house, such as Thomas Owen and Gérard Prévot.

Claude Seignolle "La Malvenue" – 223 pages – Edizioni Hypnos – Euro 16,90 - 2021