Benjamin De Casseres

Benjamin De Casseres (1873-1945) was an American journalist and author. He worked for various New York City newspapers writing columns and editorials. He also wrote poetry, fiction, essays, and critical reviews. He was married to author Adele Bio Terrill De Casseres, and corresponded with prominent literary figures of his time including Clark Ashton Smith and Charles Fort.

A three volume retrospective of his work was printed by Blackstone in 1936 and reprinted in 1975 by Gordon Press.

The Moth-Terror

De Casseres' poem "The Moth-Terror" is amongst his most famous work, and certainly one of the most frequently reproduced.

I have killed the moth flying around my night-light; wingless and dead it lies upon the floor.

(O who will kill the great Time-Moth that eats holes in my soul and that burrows in and through my secretest veils!)

My will against its will, and no more will it fly at my night-light or be hidden behind the curtains that swing in the winds.

(But O who will shatter the Change-Moth that leaves me in rags -- tattered old tapestries that swing in the winds that blow out of Chaos!)

Night-Moth, Change-Moth, Time-Moth, eaters of dreams and of me!

Quotes

"It is the sense of the Irrational as principle of existence. It is the divination of Chance. It is the apotheosis of the Intuitive. The Irrational is the groundwork of all existence"

"I never read women writers...because I think in the arts women 'do not belong.' Sex is their art; let them stick to it." ("A Self-Interview" Contempo I.9 Sept. 15, 1931. p. 1)

"When Sinclair (Lewis) is dead he's dead; when I die I'm immortal." ("To the Editors" Contempo I. 12. Nov. 15, 1931 p. 2).

Bibliography

Articles

* The Caste of the Newly Educated, (ar) People’s Favorite Magazine Nov 1920
* The Hamlet-Like Nature of Charlie Chaplin, New York Times Book Review, 12 Dec 1920
* The Babbitts of Radicalism, Haldeman-Julius Monthly, IV:6, Nov 1926
* A Confession between G.B.S. and the Dictionary, (ms) The Smart Set Dec 1914; burlesque.
* Five Portraits On Galvanized Iron, American Mercury Dec 1926
* Four One-Reel Movies, (ms) The Smart Set Apr 1920; sketch.
* Little Scenarios, (ms) The Smart Set Mar 1920; sketch.
* The Lost Satire of a Famous Titan, (ms) The Smart Set Jun 1920; sketch.
* The New Girl—I Hate Her, (ar) Metropolitan Magazine Feb-Mar 1923
* The Nietzschean Follies (IX), (ar) The Smart Set Oct 1922
* The Nietzschean Follies (VIII), (ar) The Smart Set Sep 1922
* The Psychology of the Avenue, (ms) The Smart Set May 1918; sketch.
* Queer Antics of Old Madame Ouija, (ss) People’s Favorite Magazine Aug 1920
* The Resignation of New York, (ms) The Smart Set Oct 1917; sketch.
* Sub Specie Eternitatus, (ms) The Smart Set Jun 1922; sketch.
* Variation on an Old Theme, (ms) The Smart Set Sep 1917; sketch.
* A Woman for President!, (ar) Gay Book Magazine Jan 1933

Books

The Shadow-Eater
The Adventures of an Exile
Anathema! Litanies of Negation
The Muse Of Lies
I Dance With Nietzsche
Fantasia Impromptu
Don Marquis
Finis
Forty Immortals
James Gibbons Hunekar
The Love Letters Of A Living Poet
Mencken and Shaw
Mirrors of New York
Robinson Jeffers, Tragic Terror
The Last Supper
The Communist-Parasite State
The Eighth Heaven
The Eternal Return
The Chamelon, Being A Book Of My Selves
Sir Galahad: Knight of the Lidless Eye
The Superman In AmericaSPINOZA, Liberator of God and Man (This book was copyrighted in 1932, the 300th Anniversary of Spinoza's birth. Mr. De Casseres is a descendant of Samuel De Casseres, whose wife, Miriam, was Spinoza's youngest sister.)

References

[http://catnyp.nypl.org/record=b2933484 Benjamin De Casseres collection at the New York Public Library]