Arthur Adamov (23 August 1908 – 15 March 1970) was a playwright, 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 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 t ...

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. ...

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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

.^:93 There he met artists associated with the Surrealist Movement 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 * P ...

at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

.^:98 '' La Parodie'' (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 Brechtand 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 stud ...

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. 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, 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 career ...

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