Hermes Bird

 

The poet, through aloofness or detachment, fleetingly attained in reaction to the disgust provoked by the nigredo, the unregenerate night-world state, perceives how, divorced from everyday functions or associations, ordinary situations, objects, even people, may take on a magical perspective. They acquire an ephemeral, but nevertheless quintessential, glamour, or enchantment of absolute beauty. But, it will be seen that this ‘absolute’ beauty, this ‘threshold aestheticism’, is a coniunctio oppositorum, a union of opposites in the Hermetic sense. It contains not only the essential ‘gold’ of supernal beauty, but also a fearful purity of supernal horror – it is not only Naturalistic, but anti-Naturalistic – it is a force which consumes with a unique intensity. It is not only sublime, it is also of The Abyss. (from The Aesthetic Transformation of Perception, 1993)

Illustration: Dawn Voices/Hermes Bird, 1968

The Convulsionist Group

 

Could you tell me about the group you formed called The Neo-Surrealist Convulsionist Group?
It is tempting to say we were just a group of alienated teenagers…! We formed the thing around 1968 and it only lasted until around 1971 or 1972. There were about five or six participants based in Chelmsford, Essex. Other places included Colchester, Ipswich and Witham… people used to meet in coffee bars after school – we were all sixth formers doing art or literature, mainly as a way of avoiding sport. The associations continued after everyone left school and tried to get jobs. Some poetry was written and experimental prose cut-up; atonal electronic music was composed and lots of paintings and collages produced. There were occasional expeditions or ‘pilgrimages’ to ‘displaced destinations’ such as the old Hungerford Bridge, the Victoria Embankment Gardens (for the Sullivan Memorial – very ‘convulsive’), The Atlantis Bookshop, or the Dashwood Mausoleum and Hell Fire Caves at West Wycombe. But mainly there was a lot of loafing around, drinking coffee and snogging – or going to see Hammer Horror films and German Expressionist movies at the NFT. There was one exhibition at Hylands House – the exhibition was for all the school leavers but we managed to commandeer a room – as the Convulsionists were the general organisers of the show it was quite easy to get the space! We came up with the term ‘Convulsionism’ after the phrase ‘Beauty will be convulsive…’ (from Breton’s Amour Fou). I felt it implied the ‘visceral’ idea - my ideal work of art was to be a meaningless allegory generated by a kind of neurological spasm or frisson that could be transmitted to the viewer – well, if it gave me a frisson it might give you one as well. One old policy document from my archive says: "CONVULSION IS CONCERNED WITH THE BEAUTY OF PURE IMAGINATION AND FANTASY AND IS VIOLENTLY OPPOSED TO CONTRAPTON IN ANY FORM" (Convulsively Produced Notes On Convulsion, 1968). Earlier, I mentioned some key influences… I should add the Lost Generation to the list – the Francophile ‘Yellow Nineties’ Decadent poets and artists (Arthur Symons, Ernest Dowson et al) and, also, the ultra-Symbolist absurdism (as we saw it) of Laforgue and Alfred Jarry – we were quite keen on ‘Pataphysics as I recall… There was some empathy with English Pop Art, so we rather revelled in the Mass Media – Pop Music (The Doors, Brian Auger), Jazz (Indo Jazz Fusions, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus), Science Fiction and ‘cult TV’. It was ironic that the real Surrealists disbanded in 1969 (Andre Breton died in 1966) so we settled for being Neo-Surrealists!

Illus: Convulsionist Portrait I: Within The Glass [collage/xerox & pencil],1969

from the Neon Highway Interview With Jane Marsh, 2006

Bibliography 1968-2009

Bibliographical References 1968-2009


Allen, Tim Emotional Geology Terrible Work 2 1993
Allen, Tim Ladder to the Next Floor Stride Magazine 1-33 Terrible Work 2. 1993
Allen, Tim Two Riders One Horse Terrible Work 2 1993
Allen, Tim Two Terrible Twins from Phlebas Terrible Work 1 1993
Allen, Tim The Xantras Terrible Work 3 1994
Allen, Tim Dream Vortex Terrible Work 8 1998
Allen, Tim Earth Ascending An Anthology of Living Poetry Terrible Work 8 1998
Allen, Tim Colour of Dust by A C Evans Terrible Work 9 1999
Allen, Tim/Kirke, Alexis Trombone Pamphlets Received Terrible Work 8 [listing] 1998
Allen, Tim/Kirke, Alexis Very Recommendable Stride Books Received Terrible Work 8 [listing] 1998
Austin, Dave Letters to the Editor [The Bards 1 A C Evans] The Supplement 18 2005
Barford, Emma In a Desperate Museum 10th Muse 5 1994
Berry, Jake Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Bird, Polly A C Evans Colour of Dust New Hope International Online 1999
Blackstone, Leonard Blackstone's Chippings (Space Opera) TOPS 131 1998
Bowles, Ebenezer Delusions of Cosmic Destiny Planet Clio 2009
Bradshaw, Paul Burning Man Dark Fantasy Newsletter 6 1999
Bruinsma, Max Exploding Cinema. Rotterdam Film Course Sandberg Institute 1999
Bugle, L Decaying Orbits Nox 4 1987
Callison, J. D Letter to Rupert M Loydell [Memories of the Future] Unpublished 1999
Carroll, Pete Letters to the Editor [Hermetic Art Gnostic Alchemy of the Imagination] Nox 2 1986
Cornford, Michael Exosphere Introduction Unpublished 1983
Dafies, Aeronwy Monas Hieroglyphica 11 and Marginalia Redsine 4 Online [listing] 2001
Daunt, Will Pulsar 40 [Even Anarchists] New Hope International Online 2005
Duncan, Andrew Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Duxbury-Hibbert, Susan A Interview by Susan A Duxbury-Hibbert (Words from Nowhere) Unpublished 1996
Finch, Peter Colour of Dust Buzz Magazine 1999
Foley, Jack Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Fra Enotomy Letters to the Editor (Pandora's Box) [The Nightmare of Rejection] The Lamp of Thoth Vol III No 1 1984
Friend, Sean Russell Alien Autopsy Dark Fantasy Newsletter 6 1999
Friend, Sean Russell On The Ubiquitous Steve Sneyd Dark Fantasy Newsletter 6 1999
Gimblett, John The Luminous Boat (Work on 2 Paintings by Carl Hoffer) Stride 29 1987
Grimbleby, David The Unmagical Art of Salvador Dali The Lamp Of Thoth 20 1987
Haines, John F Colour of Dust A C Evans Handshake 36 1999
Haines, John F Memories of the Future Handshake 36 [listing] 1999
Haines, John F Outlaw 2 Handshake 53 2003
Hamilton, Michael A Ship To Nowhere Touchpaper 8 1998
Hanson, Matt/ Walter, Shane R J onedotzero3 Film Four/ICA 1999
Haynes, Lara Decaying Orbits Not Dead But Dreaming Vol XII 2000
Healy, Randolph Burning Man An Iconic Narrative New Hope International Review 1999
Henderson, Neil K Letters to the Editor [Woman by a Lake (after Andre Breton)] The Supplement 39 2008
Hooper, Emma An Interview With RML… [Trajectories/Worlds Known and Not] 10th Muse 7 1996
Jebb, Keith A C Evans Space Opera/A C Evans Dream Vortex PQR (Poetry Quarterly Review) 1998
Jope, Norman A C Evans Graphic Work Is Featured… Memes 1 1989
Jope, Norman Five Steps Memes 1 1989
Jope, Norman Stride 32 Memes 1 1989
Jope, Norman In The Forest of Signs [Occult Connections] Memes 4 1990
Jope, Norman Creative Intelligence is as Evident… Memes 8 1993
Jope, Norman Between Alien Worlds Memes 9 1994
Jope, Norman Conversation Piece Number Two [Genteel Outsiders] Memes 9 1994
Jope, Norman Timbers Across The Sun Memes 9 1994
Jope, Norman Kingdom of the (Hairless) Heart Tears in the Fence 24 1999
Jope, Norman Ascended Ravens Tears in the Fence 27 2000
Jordan, Andrew Meaning as Artifice [The Inscrutable World] 10th Muse 7 1996
Kirke, Alexis A Pamphlet To Be Reckoned With [Zones of Impulse] Terrible Work 5 1995
Kirke, Alexis The Inscrutable World by A C Evans & Rupert Loydell Terrible Work 6 1996
Kopaska-Merkel, David C Space Opera Dreams and Nightmares 1997
Lee, Emma Dream Vortex 10th Muse 10 2000
Lee, Emma Memories of the Future Tales of the Burning Man 10th Muse 10 2000
Lenkiewicz, Alice Fractured Muse by A C Evans Neon Highway 7 2004
Light, John Review of The Bards 1, 2 and 3 Atlantean Publishing Online 2005
Lightman, Ira Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Lockey, Paul J A C Evans takes a short surreal train ride… Unhinged 3 [biog] 1999
Loydell, Rupert Interview by Rupert Loydell (The Stride Interview) Stride 20 1985
Loydell, Rupert The Third Alternative [Like the Dark Side of The Moon] Stride 36 1994
Loydell, Rupert Stranger Here Myself (Introduction to Colour of Dust) Stride 1999
Marsh, Jane Jane Marsh Interviews The Poet A C Evans Neon Highway 12 Online 2006
Marsh, Jane Jane Marsh Interviews The Poet A C Evans (The Illustrated Jane) Neon Highway 13 2008
McMahon, Gary Whispers of Wickedness Silence Deathmasques VI by A C Evans Ookami Online 2004
Miettinen, J. S Three Artists (Catalogue Notes Cross Section An Exhibition of Painting) Chelmsford Technical High School 1968
Orange, Thomas M On Authorial Voice [Voices in Denial] Heuriskein Online 2007
Oxley, William Thirty Three Steps Towards Stride (The Ladder To The Next Floor) University of Salzburg 1993
Pearce, Brian Louis Exosphere A C Evans Stride 16 1984
Perloff, Marjorie Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Poison Quill This Sepulchre Avant-Goth Poems by A C Evans The Seventh Seal 4 2001
Reed, Chris Colour of Dust The BBR Directory 1999
Searles, A Langley Three Titles of A C Evans have recently… Fantasy Commentator 52 [listing] 2000
Side, Jeffrey A C Evans The Bards 1 New Hope International Online 2004
Side, Jeffrey Interview by Jeffrey Side The Argotist Online 2006
Side, Jeffrey Note From The Editor [Voices in Denial] The Argotist Online 2006
Smith, Barbara A C Evans Fractured Muse New Hope International Online 2005
Sneyd, Steve Between Alien Worlds Data Dump 9 [listing] 1994
Sneyd, Steve Mystical/Speculative… Data Dump 9 1994
Sneyd, Steve Flights From The Iron Moon Genre Poetry in UK Fanzines & Little Magazines 1980-1989 The Hilltop Press 1995
Sneyd, Steve Interview by Steve Sneyd (Space Opera An Interview with A C Evans) Fantasy Commentator 47/48 1995
Sneyd, Steve Dream Vortex Data Dump 22 1997
Sneyd, Steve Foreword to Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
Sneyd, Steve Interview by Steve Sneyd (Visions by Association) Stride Publications 1997
Sneyd, Steve A Ship to Nowhere Data Dump 31 [listing] 1998
Sneyd, Steve Space Opera Data Dump 25 1998
Sneyd, Steve A C Evans The Stone Door Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Also A C Evans Space Opera poem sequence [Centre of Gravity] Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Colour of Dust Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Memories of the Future Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Swan of Yuggoth Data Dump 44 1999
Sneyd, Steve Two Genre Anthologies…[Fantasia/Death's Door] Data Dump 37 1999
Sneyd, Steve A C Evans This Sepulchre Data Dump 49 [listing] 2000
Sneyd, Steve Only Our Opinion [Colour of Dust] Twink 18 2000
Sneyd, Steve The Burning Man Spacerock Fest Data Dump 45 2000
Sneyd, Steve Fractured Muse Data Dump 68 2003
Sneyd, Steve We Are Glad You Have Come (Sleeping Galaxy) Stark 27 2003
Sneyd, Steve A C Evans SF Poetry Sequence Space Opera [Interview by Jane Marsh] Data Dump 104 2006
Sneyd, Steve Coinicidentally in the On-Line Interview [Interview by Jane Marsh] Data Dump 104 2006
Sneyd, Steve Letters to the Editor [Weirdstuff] The Supplement 42 2008
Sneyd, Steve Matters Arising [Lust for a Vampire] Data Dump 119 2008
Sneyd, Steve Significant Number Issue # 75 of Handshake [Boo Galaxy] Data Dump 129 2008
Sneyd, Steve Term Speculative Poetry has more definitions, perhaps… Data Dump 128 2008
Sneyd, Steve Vespula Vanishes & Other Poems Data Dump 118 2008
Spence, Steve Colour of Dust by A C Evans Scene Magazine 1999
Spence, Steve Wordplay With Worldplay Poetry Quarterly Review 13 1999
Spence, Steve Neon Highway Issue 2 October 2002 Terrible Work Online 2003
Spindoc Fractured Muse by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 72 2004
Spracklen, Jamie A C Evans is an artist and poet Monas Hieroglyphica 10 [biog] 2000
Tennant, Peter Literary Horror Reviewed Unhinged Online 1 [not available] 2001
Tyrer, D-J Old Rossum's Book of Practical Robots Handshake 75 [listing] 2008
Tyrer, D-J Vespula Vanishes & Other Poems The Supplement 38 2008
Unsigned Artist-Poet A C Evans Ixion 6 [biog] 1999
Unsigned Review Adrian's Jazz Catalogue (EWN 12 Oct 1972) [Books on Jazz] Essex Weekly News 1972
Unsigned Review Witty Notes on all the Jazz Books (BWT 13 Oct 1972) [Books on Jazz] Braintree & Witham Times 1972
Unsigned Review Exosphere Unknown Source 1984
Unsigned Review Exosphere A C Evans The Lamp Of Thoth 14 1984
Unsigned Review Decaying Orbits Scavenger's Newsletter 1987
Unsigned Review Decaying Orbits The Lamp Of Thoth 20 1987
Unsigned Review Incisive Exposures [Neon Aeon I-V] Frontal Lobe 2 1995
Unsigned Review A C Evans is both the poet and the artist… Zene 14 1998
Unsigned Review Angels of Rancid Glamour PQR (Poetry Quarterly Review) 11 1998
Vaughan, Vittoria Interactive Patterns Kaleidoscopically… [Zones of Impulse] 10th Muse 6 1995
Weston, D J Letters to the Editor [Displacement Effects] The Supplement 40 2008
Wiloch, Thomas Chimaera Obscura Taproot Reviews 3 1993
Wiloch, Thomas Martin A Hibbert and A C Evans Between Alien Worlds Taproot Reviews 4 1994
Wiloch, Thomas. Decaying Orbits Stride 29 1987
Zine Kat Space Opera by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 46/47 1998
Zine Kat Asphalt Jungle Dragon's Breath 59 [listing] 1999
Zine Kat Colour of Dust by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 59 1999
Zine Kat Handshake Dragon's Breath 59 [listing] 1999
Zine Kat Memories of the Future Dragon's Breath 60 1999
Zine Kat Omega Lightning by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 64 1999
Zine Kat The BBR Directory Dragon's Breath 59 [listing] 1999

Illustration: Untitled, 1973

Convulsion Revisited

It might be the case that the idea of Convulsion as a guiding principle arose during a rambling discussion triggered by a short, passing reference to the topic in Patrick Waldberg’s book Surrealism (1965). There may be those who recall taking part in such a discussion in 1967 and who may even remember the very place in Chelmsford where we met – a coffee bar in Duke Street opposite the Civic Centre and Public Library – the last time I looked it was still there. There may also be some who, even today, might recall how, in a crowded, smoky hostelry next to the railway station, the more formal notion of a BCI (Bureau of Convulsive Inquiries, or was it Investigations?) was mooted. Some might claim that such a thing actually existed – on paper at least.
And yet I recall most vividly that it was, in fact, in Villiers Street, near Charing Cross, in a restaurant long since vanished (there was shadowy corner lined with fake books) that the suggestion of a Convulsionist Group was proposed for the very first time. I only wish I could remember the name of the place, but I expect it was a Golden Egg, as the interior decor was elaborate and colourful. We can all agree, I think, that Convulsionism emerged in 1967 for the simple reason that the poem ‘Birth of Convulsion’ dates from that year and no earlier testimonials survive: for a very few the Summer of Love was also the Summer of Convulsion.
It was late afternoon when, walking towards Villiers Street, through the Victoria Embankment Gardens, I came across that embodiment of the Convulsive Aesthetic, or one sharply defined facet of such an aesthetic: the Sullivan Memorial by W. Goscombe John. It was ‘the mourning girl’; an allegory of music grieving for a dead composer that, at that epiphanic moment, caused a veritable frisson of the imagination. This mild shock evoked in turn a quotation from Rider Haggard’s She, which I am very sure read as follows:

…with a convulsive movement that somehow gave the impression of a despairing energy, the woman rose to her feet and cast the dark cloak from her.


It was natural that I then recalled the famous passage from Against Nature where Huysmans decibes Salome's gesture in Gustave Moreau's watercolour The Apparation:

with a gesture of horror, Salome tries to thrust away the terrifying vision which holds her nailed to the spot, balanced on the tips of her toes, her eyes dilated, her right hand clawing convulsively at her throat..


By word association I next recalled an amusing anecdote recounted in a book on Art Nouveau by John Russell Taylor which recorded how, when Burne-Jones admitted that he wished he had seen Blake’s Behemoth as a teenager, a friend exclaimed "My dear, you would have been carried off in convulsions!"
Obsessed with Decadence, I felt the sensual ‘wave-line’ of Art Nouveau, the frisson a l’unison of the ‘Cantique de Saint Jean,’ and certain details of Beardsley’s Salome drawings exemplified the notion of a Convulsive force in a manner that complimented Breton’s eloge du cristal, or Dali’s ‘The Phenomenon of Ecsasty’. Eine linie ist eine Kraft (‘a line is a force’) wrote Henry van de Velde in some forgotten artistic treatise published in the fin de siecle era. Here, I thought, was a kind of continuity, linking the ‘magnetic force’ of Rider Haggard’s awesome Queen of Kor with the Surrealist principle of Convulsive Beauty via the sinuous, ectoplasmic wave forms of Art Nouveau and the galvanic posture of an allegory of music as sculpted for the memorial before me. It was the birth of Convulsion from an allegory of music.
There were others that evening who, because they despised Dali, and for other reasons, argued that Ernst's ‘The Eye of Silence’ (currently on the cover of Ballard’s The Crystal World) and ‘The Robing of the Bride’ epitomised the true spirit of present day Convulsion in art. Together with the ‘secret festivals’ of Leonor Fini and the multiple perspectives of the ‘unconscious anatomy’ described by Hans Bellmer, it was, in the final analysis, Max Ernst who was the guiding light on our quest to become cartographers of 'inner space'. Notwithstanding the still-living presence of Elizabeth Siddal, who seemed, for at least one of us, a more than fleeting presence, Gothic Convulsion in art was exemplified by Rossetti’s absolutely uncanny ‘How They Met Themselves’ (his ‘bogey picture’) while some, even more ambitious, claimed Crivelli, Goya and even Leonardo (think of his crumbling, oracular wall), as precursors.
Yet another asserted the importance of the echoing spaces and voids depicted in Messiaen’s Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum (this, despite the anti-clericalism of Convulsion), or the tortured, Expressionist sprechstimme of Pierrot Lunaire, to show that Convulsion pervades the universe of music. Convulsion in music certainly existed, it was said, despite the intentions of composers who were, as we knew, often behind the times. Of course the ‘Liebestod’ from Tristan was always cited in such conversations together with some works by Varese and Bartok, while on other occasions, it was permissible to assert that ‘classical’ music (whatever that was) was no longer ‘it’. Quite rightly, to ‘get Convulsion now’, you should listen to ‘Rocket 69’ by Connie Allen, or The Doors’ ‘Horse Latitudes’/ ‘Moonlight Drive’/ ‘People Are Strange’ – well the whole album actually. Jimi Hendrix and his Experience was certainly Convulsive among the ladies, so were Tropicalia, Brian Auger and anything by Charles Mingus, but especially ‘Ysabel’s Table Dance’ from Tijuana Moods.
Above all, I thought of Wifredo Lam’s hieratic and sinister Altar for La Chevelure de Falmer exhibited in 1947 but not illustrated in Waldberg’s book, and certain images from a television programme called The Debussy Film (1965). It was an unquestioned axiom of dogma, a basic tenet of theory, that every utterance and written word by Antonin Artaud was ‘intrinsically Convulsive’ and ditto Marcel Duchamp. The same was true of every move and gesture by Conrad Veidt in the (‘totally Convulsive’) role of Cesare the Somnambulist or, more obscurely, as the eponymous student in The Student of Prague.
But of course, wishing, for obvious reasons, to elevate some film star or super-model to iconic status, most of us, inspired by The Phantom Of Sex Appeal, undoubtedly defined Convulsive Beauty in the context of ‘the internal (or, sometimes, ‘infernal’) feminine’. Candidates for this iconic role would include Charlotte Rampling for her portrayal of the doomed Elizabeth Thallman in Visconti’s The Damned (1968) or – very seriously – Fenella Fielding; and not just for her appearance as Valeria Watt in Carry On Screaming (1966). There was a positive mania for this kind of nomination with candidates ranging from Louise Brooks to Elsa Lanchester, Veronica Lake, Barbara Steele, Verushka, Jean Shrimpton, (not Twiggy) and Catherine Deneuve. One image, of the model Donyale Luna in Qui etes-vous Polly Maggoo?, became the ultimate icon, although a ‘Convulsive moment’ from Fortunata’s dance (Magali Noel in Fellini Satyricon) was also a close contender. At that time I had not seen a film called The Flesh and the Fiends or, without hesitation, I would have added the names of Billie Whitelaw to the list.
From very different perspectives there were other modes of Convulsion, including Lyrical Convulsion which was a style of ultra-decadent ‘Yellow Nineties’ poetry influenced by the naturalism of Arthur Symons, and Hermetic Convulsion requiring a knowledge of Alchemy but exclusively ‘under the poetic angle’. There were Convulsive Objects (instamatic cameras, cash machines, dictaphones, car stereos, audiocassette players), and Convulsive Places and Buildings (The Hellfire Caves, Museum Street, Centre Point, The Post Office Tower, Liverpool Street Station and Hungerford Bridge among others). Macabre Convulsion drew inspiration from Mervyn Peake's Fuschia Groan, Edgar Allan Poe and Maturin’s Melmoth the Wanderer, while Absurd Convulsion was definitely both Pataphysical (Faustroll, Ubu Roi) and contemporary – as in the ‘Convulsively funny’ dinner party from Carry On Up the Khyber (1968). Radio 1 was definitely not Convulsive at all, and neither was The Liverpool Scene. The Gernreich topless dress was Convulsive but Post-Painterly Abstraction was not – well, not usually. William Burroughs was ‘in’ but Jack Kerouac was ‘out’… and what about Union Jack sunglasses, and all those sort of things? Well, no, not particularly, even though floral or Op Art ties were sometimes worn to Convulsive parties or gatherings at Le Macabre, a coffee house in Meard Street, or the sordid wine-cellar of Dirty Dicks on Bishopsgate. While writing practice was often 'under guerrilla conditions' (cut-ups inspired by Nova Express), the ideal Convulsive fashion style avoided blue jeans and aspired to attain an Essex Exi-gangster look, via Warhol and the Velvet Underground.

An amalgam of Surrealism and Decadence with an element of the Mod-Pop axis mixed with pure fantasy, Convulsionism valued the imagination and automatism above everything – the ideal Convulsive 'moment' is always inadvertent. In their book Surrealism: Permanent Revelation (1970) Cardinal & Short said correctly:

Surrealism has established its own ‘aesthetics’ by defining beauty in terms of a purely affective response to phenomena.

That this ‘excitation of the nerves’ as Angela Carter defined the concept sometime later, was in fact an extension into the mid-twentieth century of the Decadent idea of the frisson nouveau or crise de nerfs was the clever but not necessarily original basis for the Convulsionist aesthetic. It was an aesthetic that flourished obscurely during the era known by some as 'that decade of convulsion', but, more specifically, The Swinging Sixties, and which, in the long term, I suspect influenced no one but myself.

Illustration: Cantique de St Jean, 1968