Alfred Jarry | |
|---|---|
 Jarry in 1896 | |
| Born | (1873-09-08)8 September 1873 Laval, France |
| Died | 1 November 1907(1907-11-01) (aged 34) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Writer and dramatist |
| Nationality | French |
| Genre | 'Pataphysics |
Alfred Jarry (French:[alfʁɛdʒaʁi]; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a Frenchsymbolist writer who is best known for his playUbu Roi (1896), often cited as a forerunner of theDada,Surrealist, andFuturist movements of the 1920s and 1930s and later thetheatre of the absurd in the 1950s and 1960s.[1][2] He also coined the term and philosophical concept of'pataphysics.[3]
Jarry was born inLaval, Mayenne, France, although his mother was fromBrittany.[4] He wrote in a variety of hybrid genres and styles, prefiguring thepostmodern, including novels, poems, short plays andopéras bouffes, absurdist essays and speculative journalism. His texts are considered examples ofabsurdist literature andpostmodern philosophy.
His father Anselme Jarry (1837–1895) was a salesman who descended into alcoholism; his mother Caroline, née Quernest (1842–1893), was interested in music and literature, but her family had a streak of insanity, and her mother and brother were institutionalized. 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 toSaint-Brieuc in Brittany.[5]
In 1888 the family moved toRennes, where Jarry entered thelycée at 15. There he led a group of boys who enjoyed poking fun at their well-meaning, but obese and incompetent physics teacher, a man named Hébert. Jarry and his classmate, Henri Morin, wrote a play they calledLes Polonais and performed it with marionettes in the home of one of their 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 workUbu Roi, Père Heb would develop into Ubu, one of the most monstrous and astonishing characters in French literature.
At 17 Jarry passed hisbaccalauréat and moved to Paris to prepare for admission to theÉcole Normale Supérieure. Though he was not admitted, he soon gained attention for his original poems and prose-poems. A collection of his work,Les minutes de sable mémorial, was published in 1893.
That same year, Jarry contractedinfluenza. His mother and sister tended him, but once he recovered his mother fell ill of the disease and died; two years later his father perished from influenza as well, leaving Jarry a small inheritance which he quickly spent.[6]
Jarry had meantime discovered the pleasures of alcohol, which he called "my sacred herb" or, when referring toabsinthe, the "green goddess". A story is told that he once painted his face green and rode through town on his bicycle in its honour (and possibly under its influence).
When he was drafted into the army in 1894, his 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 his less than 5-foot frame – the army did not issue uniforms small enough – was so disruptively funny that he was excused from parades and marching drills. Eventually the army discharged him for medical reasons. His military experience eventually inspired his novelDays and Nights.
In his youth, Jarry was homosexually inclined,[7] although like many bohemians he disavowed sexual categorization. A brief but passionate relationship with future poetLéon-Paul Fargue inspired his semi-autobiographical playHaldernablou (1894).[8]
Jarry returned to Paris and applied himself to writing, drinking and the company of friends who appreciated his witty, sweet-tempered and unpredictable conversation. This period is marked by his intense involvement withRemy de Gourmont in the publication ofL'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, andL'Ymagier provided a nexus for many of its key contributors. Jarry's playCaesar 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 biblicalBook 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 ofspirituality but as an agent of theRoman 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 ofEgyptology such as the 1894 excavation of theNarmer Palette, an ancient artifact used for situating therebus withinhermeneutics. The character Ubu Roi first appears in this play.[9]
The spring of 1896 saw the publication, in Paul Fort's reviewLe Livre d'art, of Jarry's 5-act playUbu Roi, the rewritten and expandedLes Polonais of his 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 Aurélien-Marie Lugné-Poe took the risk, producing the play at his Théâtre de l'Œuvre.
On opening night (10 December 1896), with traditionalists and theavant-garde in the audience, King Ubu (played byFirmin Gémier) 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 he immersed himself in the fiction he had created. Gémier had modelled his portrayal of Ubu on Jarry's own staccato, nasal vocal delivery, which emphasized each syllable (even the silent ones). From then on, Jarry would always speak in this style. He adopted Ubu's ridiculous and pedantic figures of speech; for example, he referred to himself using theroyalwe, and called the wind "that which blows" and the bicycle he 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 his target shooting endangered her children, he replied, "If that should ever happen, ma-da-me, we should ourselves be happy to get new ones with you."
WithFranc-Nohain andClaude Terrasse he co-founded the Théâtre des Pantins, which in 1898 was the site of marionette performances ofUbu Roi.[10]
Living in worsening poverty, neglecting his health and drinking excessively, Jarry went on to write the novelLe Surmâle (The Supermale), which is partly a satire on theSymbolist ideal of self-transcendence.
Unpublished until after his death, his fictionExploits 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. In 1969, Paul McCartney used the word "pataphysical" in his songMaxwell's Silver Hammer.
In his final years, he was a legendary and heroic figure to some of the young writers and artists in Paris.Guillaume Apollinaire,André Salmon andMax Jacob sought him out in his truncated apartment.Pablo Picasso was fascinated with Jarry.[11] After Jarry's death Picasso acquired his revolver and wore it on his nocturnal expeditions in Paris. He later bought many of his manuscripts as well as executing a fine drawing of him.
Jarry died in Paris on 1 November 1907 oftuberculosis, aggravated by drug and alcohol misuse. When he could not afford alcohol, he drank ether.[12] It is recorded that his last request was for a toothpick. He was interred in theCimetière de Bagneux, near Paris.
The complete works of Alfred Jarry are published in three volumes byGallimard in the collectionBibliothèque de la Pléiade.
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