Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French
symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''
Ubu Roi
''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de ...
'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of
'pataphysics
Pataphysics (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of ima ...
.
Jarry was born in
Laval, Mayenne
Laval () is a town in western France, about west-southwest of Paris, and the capital of the Mayenne department.
Its inhabitants are called ''Lavallois''. The commune of Laval proper, without the metropolitan area, is the 7th most populous in ...
, France, and his mother was from
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
. He was associated with the
Symbolist movement. His play ''Ubu Roi'' is often cited as a forerunner of
Dada
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...
and the
Surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
and
Futurist
Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abo ...
movements of the 1920s and 1930s. He wrote in a variety of hybrid genres and styles, prefiguring the
postmodern, including novels, poems, short plays and
opéras bouffes, absurdist essays and speculative journalism. His texts are considered examples of
absurdist literature
Absurdist fiction is a genre of novels, plays, poems, films, or other media that focuses on the experiences of characters in situations where they cannot find any inherent purpose in life, most often represented by ultimately meaningless act ...
and
postmodern philosophy.
Biography and works
![Alfred Jarry, Deux aspects de la marionnette originale d'Ubu Roi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Alfred_Jarry%2C_Deux_aspects_de_la_marionnette_originale_d%27Ubu_Roi.jpg)
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 to Saint-Brieuc in Brittany.
In 1888 the family moved to
Rennes, where Jarry entered the lycée 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 called ''Les 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 work ''Ubu Roi'', Père Heb would develop into Ubu, one of the most monstrous and astonishing characters in French literature.
At 17 Jarry passed his
baccalauréat and moved to Paris to prepare for admission to the École 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 contracted
influenza. 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.
Jarry had meantime discovered the pleasures of alcohol, which he called "my sacred herb" or, when referring to
absinthe, 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 small man 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 novel ''Days and Nights''.
In his youth, Jarry was homosexually inclined, although like many bohemians he disavowed sexual categorization. A brief but passionate relationship with future poet
Léon-Paul Fargue
Léon-Paul Fargue (, 4 March 187624 November 1947) was a French poet and essayist.
He was born in Paris, France, on rue Coquilliére. As a poet he was noted for his poetry of atmosphere and detail. His work spanned numerous literary movements. ...
inspired his semi-autobiographical play
Haldernablou (1894).
![Véritable portrait de Monsieur Ubu](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/V%C3%A9ritable_portrait_de_Monsieur_Ubu.png)
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 with
Remy de Gourmont
Remy de Gourmont (4 April 1858 – 27 September 1915) was a French symbolist poet, novelist, and influential critic. He was widely read in his era, and an important influence on Blaise Cendrars and Georges Bataille. The spelling ''Rémy'' de Gour ...
in the publication of ''
L'Ymagier
''L'Ymagier'', subtitled "A Magazine of Engravings", was a French symbolist art magazine edited by Alfred Jarry and Remy de Gourmont between 1894 and 1895. It ran for five issues and disbanded one year after its first printing, but in that time it ...
,'' a luxuriously produced "art" magazine devoted to the symbolic analysis of medieval and popular prints.
Symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sym ...
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
''Caesar Antichrist'' (french: César-Antéchrist) is a short 1895 play by the French writer Alfred Jarry. The third act is an early version of Jarry's next play, ''Ubu Roi''; the main character of which, Père Ubu, appears here as the 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
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...
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
The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...
but as an agent of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
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
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , ''-logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious p ...
such as the 1894 excavation of the
Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, belonging, at least nominally, to the category of cosmetic palettes. ...
, an ancient artifact used for situating the
rebus
A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...
within
hermeneutics
Hermeneutics () is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics is more than interpretative principles or methods used when immediate ...
. The character Ubu Roi first appears in this play.
![Alfred Jarry - Alfred Vallette Corbeil](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Alfred_Jarry_-_Alfred_Vallette_Corbeil.png)
The spring of 1896 saw the publication, in Paul Fort's review ''Le Livre d'art'', of Jarry's 5-act play ''
Ubu Roi
''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de ...
,'' the rewritten and expanded ''Les 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 the
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
in the audience, King Ubu (played by
Firmin Gémier
Firmin Gémier (1869-1933) was a French actor and director. Internationally, he is most famous for originating the role of Père Ubu in Alfred Jarry’s play ''Ubu Roi''. He is known as the principle architect of the popular theatre movement in Fr ...
) 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 the
royal ''we'', 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."
![Jarry velo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Jarry_velo.jpg)
With
Franc-Nohain
Maurice Étienne Legrand, who published under the pseudonym Franc-Nohain (; 25 October 187218 October 1934), was a French librettist and poet. He is best known for his libretti for Maurice Ravel's opera '' L'heure espagnole'' and for numerous oper ...
and
Claude Terrasse he co-founded the Théâtre des Pantins, which in 1898 was the site of marionette performances of ''Ubu Roi''.
Living in worsening poverty, neglecting his 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 his death, his fiction ''
Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician
''Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician'' (original title in French: ''Gestes et opinions du docteur Faustroll pataphysicien : Roman néo-scientifique suivi de Spéculations'') is a novel by French Symbolism (arts), Symbolist auth ...
'' (''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 (french: 'pataphysique) is a "philosophy" of science invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of ima ...
''. '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 his final years, he was a legendary and heroic figure to some of the young writers and artists in Paris.
Guillaume Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent.
Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...
,
André Salmon and
Max Jacob
Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic.
Life and career
After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...
sought him out in his truncated apartment.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
was fascinated with Jarry. 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 of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
, aggravated by drug and alcohol misuse. When he could not afford alcohol, he drank ether.
It is recorded that his last request was for a toothpick. He 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 Pléiade
The ''Bibliothèque de la Pléiade'' (, "Pleiades Library") is a French editorial collection which was created in 1931 by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the c ...
''.
Selected Jarry works
Plays
* ''César-Antéchrist'' (1895) – (''
Caesar Antichrist
''Caesar Antichrist'' (french: César-Antéchrist) is a short 1895 play by the French writer Alfred Jarry. The third act is an early version of Jarry's next play, ''Ubu Roi''; the main character of which, Père Ubu, appears here as the Antichrist. ...
'') – which introduces Père Ubu and his symbolic meaning.
* ''
Ubu Roi
''Ubu Roi'' (; "Ubu the King" or "King Ubu") is a play by French writer Alfred Jarry, then 23 years old. It was first performed in Paris in 1896, by Aurélien Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre at the Nouveau-Théâtre (today, the Théâtre de ...
'' (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 Enchaíné'' (1899) – (''Ubu in Chains'') – which portrays Père Ubu in service.
* ''Ubu Sur La Butte'' (1906)
Novels
* ''Les Jours et Les Nuits, roman d'un déserteur'' (1897) – (''
Days and Nights, novel of a deserter
A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two so ...
''). 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 considérée comme course de côte'' (''The Passion Considered as an Uphill Bicycle Race'') has been widely circulated and imitated, notably by
J. G. Ballard
James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...
and
Robert Anton Wilson
Robert Anton Wilson (born Robert Edward Wilson; January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007) was an American author, futurist, psychologist, and self-described agnostic mystic. Recognized within Discordianism as an Episkopos, pope and saint, Wilson ...
.
* Comic operetta ''The Pope's Mustard-Maker'' (''Le Moutardier du pape'') First English translation (2019) by
Doug Skinner
Doug Skinner (born January 7, 1955) is an American composer, writer, and performer.
Music
Skinner has written music for many dance companies, including ODC/Dance in San Francisco and Margaret Jenkins. He has often written for the theater: in pa ...
.
* Speculative essays ''Speculations'' (''Spéculations'') 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 his 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 http://alfredjarry.fr/jarry/
References
Further reading
*
* Fell, Jill (2005). ''Alfred Jarry. An Imagination in Revolt''. U.S.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. .
* Fell, Jill (2010). ''Alfred Jarry.'' London, Reaktion Books. .
*
*
*
*
* Revised edition of 1958 book.
*
* Stillman, Linda Klieger (1980). ''La Theatralité dans l'Œuvre d'Alfred Jarry''. U.S.: French Literature Publications Company.
* Stillman, Linda Klieger (1983). ''Alfred Jarry''. U.S.: Twayne Publishers, .
External links
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''Ubu Roi ou Les Polonais'' at athena.unige.ch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarry, Alfred
French satirists
French surrealist writers
Surrealist dramatists and playwrights
Symbolist writers
1873 births
1907 deaths
Writers from Brittany
Modernist theatre
Pataphysicians
French people of Breton descent
Lycée Henri-IV alumni
People from Laval, Mayenne
20th-century deaths from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis deaths in France
Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux
19th-century French dramatists and playwrights
19th-century French novelists
20th-century French novelists
'Pataphysics