In the 1992 British horror film, Tale of a Vampire, a centuries-old vampire and scholar (Julian Sands) approaches an occult-specialist librarian (Suzanna Hamilton) when he sees her reading an antique volume of Forneret. He tells her that his favorite poem by Forneret (1809-1884) is “Le pauvre honteux”–about a starving man who eats his own hand.
Below is the poem in question:
Un pauvre honteux
| Il l’a tirée De sa poche percée, L’a mise sous ses yeux ; Et l’a bien regardée En disant : ” Malheureux ! “Il l’a soufflée De sa bouche humectée ; Il avait presque peur D’une horrible pensée Qui vint le prendre au coeur.Il l’a mouillée D’une larme gelée Qui fondit par hasard ; Sa chambre était trouée Encor plus qu’un bazar. Il l’a frottée Il l’a pesée Il l’a touchée Il l’a baisée, Il l’a palpée Il l’a pliée, |
Quand il n’était pas grand on lui avait dit : Si tu as faim, mange une de tes mains.
Xavier Forneret (1809-1884) was a French dramaturge, poet and journalist. In the 1830s, he was a member of the Bouzingo, a group of poets which advocated a radical bohemian romanticism in life and art; contemporaries and kindred spirits included Gerard de Nerval and Theophile Gautier. His reputation was partly rehabilitated by Andre Breton, who included some of Forneret’s poems and aphorisms in his Anthology of Black Humor (1940).