Arthur Adamov (23 August 1908 – 15 March 1970) was a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, one of the foremost exponents of the

Theatre of the Absurd The Theatre of the Absurd (french: théâtre de l'absurde ) is a post–World War II designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1950s. It is also a term for the style o ...

Early life

Adamov (originally Adamian) was born in

Kislovodsk Kislovodsk (russian: Кислово́дск, lit. ''sour waters''; ; krc, Ачысуу) is a spa city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, in the North Caucasus region of Russia which is located between the Black and Caspian Seas. Population: History ...

in the

Terek Oblast The Terek Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire, roughly corresponding to the central part of Russia's North Caucasian Federal District. Тhe ''оblast'' was created out of the former territories of ...

of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

to a wealthy

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

family.^:92 At the outbreak of the First World War, the family was at risk of being interned as 'enemy citizens', and only 'through the special intervention of the King of Wurttemberg' were they able to escape to Geneva, Switzerland.^:93 Adamov was educated in Switzerland and Germany,^:93 with French as his primary language. In 1924, when he was sixteen years old, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

.^:93 There he met artists associated with the

Surrealist Movement 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 l ...

and edited the surrealist journal '' Discontinuité''.^:93

Postwar career

He began to write

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pl ...

at the end of World War II.^:98 ''

La Parodie LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'' (1947) was his first play, which Martin Esslin has identified as 'an attempt to come to terms with neurosis, to make psychological states visible in concrete terms.'^:98 His work, influenced by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

and August Strindberg,^:98 is often

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5 to 20 minutes, althou ...

-like and later works in particular have a

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studie ...

element. The title character of one of his best known works, '' Le Professeur Taranne'' (1953), is accused of various things (public nudity, littering, plagiarism), all of which he strenuously denies, only to have his denials turned against him into more evidence of

misdemeanours A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...

. This particular play was directly influenced by a dream Adamov had. Lesser known to the public is his prose work with short stories like ''Fin Août'' (in ''Je... Ils...'', 1969). Their themes revolve around topics like

masochism Sadomasochism ( ) is the giving and receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliation. Practitioners of sadomasochism may seek sexual pleasure from their acts. While the terms sadist and masochist refer ...

, which the author regarded as "immunisation against death". Adamov translated a number of works by German authors (

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recog ...

, Büchner) and Russian classics (

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; uk, link=no, Мико́ла Васи́льович Го́голь, translit=Mykola Vasyliovych Hohol; (russian: Яновский; uk, Яновський, translit=Yanovskyi) ( – ) was a Russian novelist, ...

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His caree ...

) into French. The Algerian war radicalised his political views and in the 1960s he became a Communist. During his later years, he began to

drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies ...

and use drugs. Adamov's death in 1970 was due to an overdose of

barbiturates Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as we ...

.Banarjee, R. B., "The Theatre of the Absurd," in ''Literary Criterion'', Vol. 7, No. 1, 1965, pp. 59-62.

Selected works

* ''L'Aveu'' (''The Confession'', 1946) * ''La Parodie'' (''The Parody'', 1950) * ''L'Invasion'' (''The Invasion'', 1950) * ''La Grande et la Petite Manoeuvre'' (''The Grand and Small Manoeuvre'', 1950) * ''Le Sens de la Marche'' (''The Way to Go'', 1953) * ''Tous contre tous'' (''All against all'', 1953) * ''Le Professeur Taranne'' (''Professor Taranne'', 1953) * ''Le Ping-Pong'' (''Ping Pong'', 1955) * ''Paolo Paoli'' (1957) * ''Le Printemps '71'' (''Spring '71'', 1960) * ''La Politique des Restes'' (The Politics of Rubbish'', 1963) * ''Ici et Maintenant'' (''Here and Now'', 1964) * ''Sainte Europe'' (''Holy Europe'', 1966) * ''M. le Modéré'' (''Mr. Moderate'', 1968) * ''Off Limits'' (1969) * ''Si l'été revenait'' (''If Summer Came Again'', 1970)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamov, Arthur 1908 births 1970 deaths People from Kislovodsk People from Terek Oblast Russian people of Armenian descent Soviet emigrants to France Russian–French translators 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights French people of Armenian descent Soviet Armenians Theatre of the Absurd Drug-related deaths in France 20th-century translators 1970 suicides Burials at Ivry Cemetery