# alfred jarry ![[alfredjarry.jpg|300]] jarry in 1896 born: 8 september 1873 laval mayenne france died: 1 november 1907 (aged 34) paris france occupation: writer and dramatist nationality: french genre: 'pataphysics alfred jarry (french: ; 8 september 1873 - 1 november 1907) was a french symbolist writer who is best known for ir play ubu roi (1896)- often cited as a forerunner of the dada surrealist and futurist movements of the 1920s and 1930s and later the theatre of the absurd in the 1950s and 1960s ey also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics jarry was born in laval mayenne france and ir mother was from brittany. ey wrote in a variety of hybrid genres and styles prefiguring the post-modem including novels poems short plays and operas bouffes absurdist essays and speculative journalism. ir texts are considered examples of absurdist literature and post-modem philosophy # biography and works ![[alfredjarry-deuxaspectsdelamarionnetteoriginaled'ubu.jpg|300]] alfred jarry deux aspects de la marionnette original d'ubu roi premiered at the theâtre de l'œuvre on 10 december 1896 ir father anselme jarry (1837-1895) was a salesman who descended into alcoholism; ir mother caroline nee quernest (1842-1893) was interested in music and literature but ir family had a streak of insanity and ir mother and brother were institutionalised. the couple had two surviving children a daughter caroline-marie called charlotte (1865-1925) and alfred. in 1879 caroline left anselme and took the children to saint-brieuc in brittany in 1888 the family moved to rennes where jarry entered the lycee at 15. there ey led a group of boys who enjoyed poking fun at ir well-meaning but obese and incompetent physics teacher a man named hebert. jarry and ir classmate henri morin wrote a play they called les polonais and performed it with marionettes in the home of one of ir friends. the main character père heb was a blunderer with a huge belly three teeth (one of stone one of iron and one of wood) a single retractable ear and a misshapen body. in jarry's later work ubu roi père heb would develop into ubu one of the most monstrous and astonishing characters in french literature at 17 jarry passed ir baccalaureat and moved to paris to prepare for admission to the ecole normale superieure. though ey was not admitted ey soon gained attention for ir original poems and prose-poems. a collection of ir work les minutes de sable memorial was published in 1893 that same year jarry contracted influenza. ir mother and sister tended ir but once ey recovered ir mother fell ill of the disease and died; two years later ir father perished from influenza as well leaving jarry a small inheritance which ey quickly spent jarry had meantime discovered the pleasures of alcohol which ey called "my sacred herb" or when referring to absinthe the "green goddess." a story is told that ey once painted ir face green and rode through town on ir bicycle in its honour (and possibly under its influence) when ey was drafted into the army in 1894 ir gift for turning notions upside down defeated attempts to instill military discipline. the sight of the diminutive jarry in a uniform much too large for ir less than 5-foot frame - the army did not issue uniforms small enough - was so disruptively funny that ey was excused from parades and marching drills. eventually the army discharged ir for medical reasons. ir military experience eventually inspired ir novel days and nights in ir youth jarry was homosexually inclined although like many bohemians ey disavowed sexual categorisation. a brief but passionate relationship with future poet leon-paul fargue inspired ir semi-autobiographical play haldernablou (1894) ![[veritableportraitdemonsieurubu.png]] père ubu (later: ubu roi) from a woodcut by alfred jarry jarry returned to paris and applied himself to writing drinking and the company of friends who appreciated ir witty sweet-tempered and unpredictable conversation. this period is marked by ir intense involvement with remy de gourmont in the publication of l'ymagier - a luxuriously produced "art" magazine devoted to the symbolic analysis of medieval and popular prints. symbolism as an art movement was in full swing at this time and l'ymagier provided a nexus for many of its key contributors. jarry's play caesar antichrist (1895) drew on this movement for material. this is a work that bridges the gap between serious symbolic meaning and the type of critical absurdity with which jarry would soon become associated. using the biblical book of revelation as a point of departure caesar antichrist presents a parallel world of extreme formal symbolism in which christ is resurrected not as an agent of spirituality but as an agent of the roman empire that seeks to dominate spirituality. it is a unique narrative that effectively links the domination of the soul to contemporaneous advances in the field of egyptology such as the 1894 excavation of the narmer palette an ancient artifact used for situating the rebus within hermeneutics. the character ubu roi first appears in this play ![[220px-alfredjarry-alfredvallettecorbeil.png]] jarry (left) and alfred vallette editor of the literary magazine mercure de france. vallette in 1894 in ir own home hosted a presentation of ubu roi the spring of 1896 saw the publication in paul fort's review le livre d'art of jarry's 5-act play ubu roi- the rewritten and expanded les polonais of ir school days. ubu roi's savage humour and monstrous absurdity unlike anything thus far performed in french theatre seemed unlikely to ever actually be performed on stage. however impetuous theatre director aurelien-marie lugne-poe took the risk producing the play at ir theâtre de l'œuvre on opening night (10 december 1896) with traditionalists and the avant-garde in the audience king ubu (played by firmin gemier) stepped forward and intoned the opening word "merdre!" (often translated as "pshit" or "shittr!" in english.) a quarter of an hour of pandemonium ensued: outraged cries booing and whistling by the offended parties countered by cheers and applause by the more bohemian contingent. such interruptions continued through the evening. at the time only the dress rehearsal and opening night performance were held and the play was not revived until after jarry's death the play brought fame to the 23-year-old jarry and ey immersed himself in the fiction ey had created. gemier had modelled ir portrayal of ubu on jarry's own staccato nasal vocal delivery which emphasised each syllable (even the silent ones.) from then on jarry would always speak in this style. ey adopted ubu's ridiculous and pedantic figures of speech; for example ey referred to himself using the royal we and called the wind "that which blows" and the bicycle ey rode everywhere "that which rolls" jarry moved into a flat which the landlord had created through the unusual expedient of subdividing a larger flat by means of a horizontal rather than a vertical partition. the diminutive jarry could just manage to stand up in the place but guests had to bend or crouch. jarry also took to carrying a loaded revolver. in response to a neighbour's complaint that ir target shooting endangered ir children ey replied "if that should ever happen ma-da-me we should ourselves be happy to get new ones with you" ![[jarryvelo.jpg|300]] jarry cycling in corbeil in 1898 with franc-nohain and claude terrasse ey co-founded the theâtre des pantins which in 1898 was the site of marionette performances of ubu roi living in worsening poverty neglecting ir health and drinking excessively jarry went on to write the novel le surmâle (the supermale) which is partly a satire on the symbolist ideal of self-transcendence unpublished until after ir death ir fiction exploits and opinions of dr. faustroll pataphysician (gestes et opinions du docteur faustroll pataphysicien) describes the exploits and teachings of a sort of antiphilosopher who born at age 63 travels through a hallucinatory paris in a sieve and subscribes to the tenets of 'pataphysics. 'pataphysics deals with "the laws which govern exceptions and will explain the universe supplementary to this one." in 'pataphysics every event in the universe is accepted as an extraordinary event jarry once wrote expressing some of the bizarre logic of 'pataphysics "if you let a coin fall and it falls the next time it is just by an infinite coincidence that it will fall again the same way; hundreds of other coins on other hands will follow this pattern in an infinitely unimaginable fashion" in ir final years ey was a legendary and heroic figure to some of the young writers and artists in paris. guillaume apollinaire andre salmon and max jacob sought ir out in ir truncated apartment. pablo picasso was fascinated with jarry. after jarry's death picasso acquired ir revolver and wore it on ir nocturnal expeditions in paris. ey later bought many of ir manuscripts as well as executing a fine drawing of ir jarry died in paris on 1 november 1907 of tuberculosis aggravated by drug and alcohol misuse. when ey could not afford alcohol ey drank ether. it is recorded that ir last request was for a toothpick. ey was interred in the cimetière de bagneux near paris the complete works of alfred jarry are published in three volumes by gallimard in the collection bibliothèque de la pleiade **+** cesar-antechrist (1895) - (caesar antichrist) - which introduces père ubu and ir symbolic meaning **+** ubu roi (1896 revised from 1888) - (ubu rex) - which portrays the ambition of père ubu **+** ubu cocu ou l'archeopteryx (1897) - (ubu cuckolded) - which portrays the inconstancy of ubu's closest **+** ubu enchaíne (1899) - (ubu in chains) - which portrays père ubu in service **+** ubu sur la butte (1906) **+** les jours et les nuits roman d'un deserteur (1897) - (days and nights novel of a deserter.) the first part of a fictional (or pataphysical) autobiography of life in the army **+** l'amour en visites (1897) - (love in visits.) the second part of a fictional (or pataphysical) autobiography of life and the theatre **+** l'amour absolu (1899) - (absolute love.) the third and final part of this autobiography **+** messaline (1901) - (messalina in english translation) - set in ancient rome **+** le surmâle (1902) - (the supermale) - features a superhuman bicycle race in which the hero is propelled by perpetual motion food (alcohol) **+** gestes et opinions du docteur faustroll pataphysicien (exploits and opinions of dr. faustroll pataphysician) - published posthumously in 1911. this novel's symbolism defines the symbolic meaning of pataphysique **+** la dragonne - assembled and published posthumously in 1943 # # other notable works **+** short story la passion consideree comme course de côte (the passion considered as an uphill bicycle race) has been widely circulated and imitated notably by j. g. ballard and robert anton wilson **+** comic operetta the pope's mustard-maker (le moutardier du pape) first english translation (2019) by doug skinner **+** speculative essays speculations (speculations) english translation (2022) by r j dent **+** les minutes de sable memorial (1894) - (minutes of memorial sand) - a collection of short early works including the symbolist play haldernablou **+** la chandelle verte: lumières sur les choses de ce temps - (the green candle) - a collection of absurdist essays which revert ir pataphysique the other way round. they address contemporary issues in an absurd manner. originally published in reviews and collected in 1969 **+** illustrated almanac of père ubu (1899) **+** illustrated almanac of père ubu - 2nd edition (1901.) both the 1899 and 1901 almanacs are downloadable (in french) at alfredjarry dot fr/jarry/ **+** beaumont keith (1984.) alfred jarry: a critical and biographical study. u.s.: st. martin's press. isbn 0-312-01712-x **+** fell jill (2005.) alfred jarry. an imagination in revolt. u.s.: fairleigh dickinson university press **+** fell jill (2010.) alfred jarry. london reaktion books. 55-8 **+** brotchie alastair (2011.) alfred jarry: a pataphysical life. u.s.: the mit press. 19-3 **+** lennon nigey (1984.) alfred jarry: the man with the axe. u.s.: last gasp **+** tomkins calvin (1996.) duchamp: a biography. u.s.: henry holt and company **+** shattuck roger (1958.) the banquet years: the arts in france 1885-1918: alfred jarry henri rousseau erik satie guillaume apollinaire. u.s.: henry holt and company **+** shattuck roger (1968.) the banquet years: the origins of the avant-garde in france 1885 to world war i. u.s.: freeport n.y. books for libraries press. . revised edition of 1958 book **+** dubbelboer marieke (2012.) the subversive poetics of alfred jarry: ubusing culture in the almanachs du pere ubu. maney. 984 **+** stillman linda klieger (1980.) la theatralite dans l'œuvre d'alfred jarry. u.s.: french literature publications company **+** stillman linda klieger (1983.) alfred jarry. u.s.: twayne publishers isbn 0-8057-6528-x // republic of bob