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 As for the poète maudit, the French writer Barbey d’Aurevilly put it best: “There remains no choice for him but that between the muzzle of a pistol or the foot of the cross.” Redemption or extinction, Being or Nothingness: if the former is only afforded to a privileged elect, then one must recall that “the pistol” also offers itself in many guises. Silence is one path, even if it’s spent running guns in Ethiopia, as Rimbaud did. Baudelaire chose a less dignified option, his inspiration snuffed out under the cumulative weight of cynicism, rage, and syphilis. Or there is Hart Crane, who, along w