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Loading... Alfred Jarry: A Pataphysical Life (edition 2011)by Alastair Brotchie
Work InformationAlfred Jarry: A Pataphysical Life by Alastair Brotchie
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A brilliantly constructed, meticulously researched biography painting a personal portrait within a realized social and historical milieu. Really, one of the most satisfying biographies of anyone I've ever read.
Alfred Jarry is perhaps the least known among the important writers of his generation. Both Burroughs and Ballard were inspired by him, he had a profound influence on the British authors associated with New Worlds magazine, and was admired by artists from Duchamp to Paolozzi as well as any number of playwrights, including Artaud, Beckett and Ionesco. His posthumous Exploits and Opinions of Dr Faustroll, Pataphysician has been cited several of today's most innovative authors. This fine biography, written with loving honesty by Alastair Brotchie, is the best to date.
This long-awaited biography of Alfred Jarry reconstructs a life both "ubuesque" and pataphysical. When Alfred Jarry died in 1907 at the age of thirty-four, he was a legendary figure in Paris--but this had more to do with his bohemian lifestyle and scandalous behavior than his literary achievements. A century later, Jarry is firmly established as one of the leading figures of the artistic avant-garde. Even so, most people today tend to think of Alfred Jarry only as the author of the play Ubu Roi, and of his life as a string of outlandish "ubuesque" anecdotes, often recounted with wild inaccuracy. In this first full-length critical biography of Jarry in English, Alastair Brotchie reconstructs the life of a man intent on inventing (and destroying) himself, not to mention his world, and the "philosophy" that defined their relation. Brotchie alternates chapters of biographical narrative with chapters that connect themes, obsessions, and undercurrents that relate to the life. The anecdotes remain, and are even augmented: Jarry's assumption of the "ubuesque," his inversions of everyday behavior (such as eating backward, from cheese to soup), his exploits with gun and bicycle, and his herculean feats of drinking. But Brotchie distinguishes between Jarry's purposely playing the fool and deeper nonconformities that appear essential to his writing and his thought, both of which remain a vital subterranean influence to this day. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)842.8Literature French and related languages French drama Later 19th century 1848–1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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