Roger Vitrac (; 17 November 1899 – 22 January 1952) was a French
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 l ...
playwright and poet.
Early life
Roger Vitrac was born in
Pinsac
Pinsac (; oc, Pinçac) is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France.
See also
*Communes of the Lot department
The following is a list of the 313 communes of the Lot department of France
France (), officially the ...
on 17 November 1899, before his family moved to Paris in 1910.
:527 As a young man, he was influenced by the period's theatre and poetry, in particular the works of
Lautréamont and
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry (; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play ''Ubu Roi'' (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics.
Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, ...
.
:527 In the late 1920s he married
Kitty Cannell, a dancer and actress who performed at the
Provincetown Playhouse
The Provincetown Playhouse is a historic theatre at 133 MacDougal Street between 3rd Street (Manhattan), West 3rd and 4th Street (Manhattan), West 4th Streets in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It is named for the P ...
.
:265
Career
In 1919 he published his first collection of poems, ''Le Faune noir''. In 1920 he began his obligatory three-year military service.
:527 While serving, he was introduced to Dadaist performances in Paris and became interested in the movement. He even 'took to distributing Dada manifestos in the barracks'.
:358 He also 'presented a play in Dadaistic character' entitled ''La Fenêtre Vorace,'' which has since been lost.
:358 It was during this time that he met
Marcel Arland
Marcel Arland (5 July 1899, Terre-Natale, Varennes-sur-Amance, Haute-Marne – 12 January 1986, Haute-Marne) was a French novelist, literary critic, and journalist.
Biography
With René Crevel and Roger Vitrac he founded the dadaist newspa ...
,
François Baron,
Georges Limbour
Georges Limbour (Courbevoie, 11 August 1900 — Chiclana de la Frontera, near Cadiz, 17 May 1970)Colin-Pichon, M., Georges Limbour: le songe autobiographique, Lachenal & Ritter, Paris, 1994, pp. 209–219 was a French writer, poet and art critic, ...
and
René Crevel
René Crevel (; 10 August 1900 – 18 June 1935) was a French writer involved with the surrealist movement.
Life
Crevel was born in Paris to a family of Parisian bourgeoisie. He had a traumatic religious upbringing. At the age of fourteen, h ...
, and founded the literary revue, ''
Aventure''.
:527In 1921, Vitrac met
André Breton
André Robert Breton (; 19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) was a French writer and poet, the co-founder, leader, and principal theorist of surrealism. His writings include the first ''Surrealist Manifesto'' (''Manifeste du surréalisme'') o ...
and
Louis Aragon
Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...
at the
Café Certa, which was one of the headquarters for
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 (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
, and later
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 l ...
, activities. That same year, he attended the Dadaist Excursion to the Church of
Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre
Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre, in full Église Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre (French for ''Church of Saint Julian the Poor''), is a Melkite Greek Catholic parish church in Paris, France, and one of the city's oldest religious buildings. Begun in Romanesque styl ...
and become formally associated with the Dadaists.
He would continue to develop this network as a founding member of the Surrealist movement and one of the signatories of Breton's
First Surrealist Manifesto (1924). He was expelled from the movement in 1925 for his pursuit of the theatre, among other infractions.
:527
Theater Alfred Jarry
In 1926, Vitrac founded the
Théatre Alfred-Jarry with
Robert Aron and
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Paul Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (; 4 September 1896 – 4 March 1948), was a French writer, poet, dramatist, visual artist, essayist, actor and theatre director. He is widely recognized as a major figure of the E ...
(who was also expelled from the Surrealist movement).
It was here that Vitrac premiered his plays, ''Les Mystères de l'amour''
'The Mysteries of Love''(1927), as well as his best known work ''Victor ou les enfants au pouvoir''
'Victor, or Power to the Children''1928).
Later works
Vitrac joined
Georges Bataille
Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; ; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French philosopher and intellectual working in philosophy, literature, sociology, anthropology, and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, ...
as one of the signatories of ''
Un Cadavre
''Un Cadavre'' (''A Corpse'') was the name of two separate surrealist pamphlets published in France in October 1924, and January 1930, respectively.
Pamphlet of October 18th, 1924
The first pamphlet, arranged largely by André Breton and Louis Ar ...
'' against
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
and contributed to ''
Documents
A document is a writing, written, drawing, drawn, presented, or memorialized representation of thought, often the manifestation of nonfiction, non-fictional, as well as fictional, content. The word originates from the Latin ''Documentum'', w ...
'' with articles on "
Gaston-Louis Roux" (1929, issue 7), "The Abduction of the Sabines" (1930, issue 6) and a poem, "Humorage to Picasso" (1930, issue 3), dedicated to the artist. From 1931, he worked as a journalist while further exploring burlesque style playwriting, which often operated between
boulevard comedy and intimate tragedy. His multi-thematic ''Coup de Trafalgar'' (1934) and ''Les Demoiselles du large'' (1938) gained as little recognition as his more slapstick plays such as ''Le Loup-Garou'' (1939) and ''
Le Sabre de mon père
''Le Sabre de mon père'' () is a surrealist play by Roger Vitrac which premiered at Théâtre de Paris in 1951.
Original cast
* Mise-en-scène : Pierre Dux
* Settings : Félix Labisse
* Costumes : Rosine Delamare
* Roles and interpreters :
* ...
'' (1951).
In January 1937, Vitrac become Secretary General of the newly established ''Confédération des Syndicats Professionels Française'' (CSPF), a workers' union that claimed to be 'purely professional' and 'free of any political affiliation.'
:212-213
Death
Vitrac died in Paris on 22 January 1952.
:527
Legacy
Only after his death did Vitrac reach popular stardom with
Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an ad ...
's 1962 production of ''Victor, or Power to the Children''. Though it was written after Vitrac was expelled from Surrealist movement, ''Victor'' is often viewed as the key masterpiece of surrealist theatre,
:94
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vitrac, Roger
1899 births
1952 deaths
People from Lot (department)
20th-century French dramatists and playwrights
French surrealist writers
Surrealist dramatists and playwrights
Modernist theatre