Alfred Jarry: A Critical And Biographical Study
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A rigorous work of literary scholarship, this critical biography presents a comprehensive examination of Alfred Jarry, the eccentric French writer whose anarchic imagination gave birth to the proto-absurdist masterpiece Ubu Roi and helped lay the groundwork for Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd. Keith Beaumont chronicles Jarry's turbulent life — from his unconventional upbringing in Brittany to his self-destructive bohemian existence in fin-de-siècle Paris — while situating his work within the broader intellectual and artistic currents of his era. With an academic yet accessible tone, Beaumont argues that Jarry's significance extends far beyond the scandalous premiere of Ubu Roi in 1896, illustrating how his concept of 'Pataphysics, the science of imaginary solutions, profoundly influenced avant-garde thought throughout the twentieth century. The study also details Jarry's lesser-known prose works, poetry, and criticism, offering a fully rounded portrait of a writer who lived as radically as he wrote. Essential reading for students of French literature, theatre history, and modernist culture, this authoritative volume remains one of the most thorough English-language assessments of Jarry's life and legacy.
Author: Keith Beaumont
Format: Hardback
Published: 1984, Leicester University Press
Genre: Biography
Edition: First Edition
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: No markings
A rigorous work of literary scholarship, this critical biography presents a comprehensive examination of Alfred Jarry, the eccentric French writer whose anarchic imagination gave birth to the proto-absurdist masterpiece Ubu Roi and helped lay the groundwork for Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd. Keith Beaumont chronicles Jarry's turbulent life — from his unconventional upbringing in Brittany to his self-destructive bohemian existence in fin-de-siècle Paris — while situating his work within the broader intellectual and artistic currents of his era. With an academic yet accessible tone, Beaumont argues that Jarry's significance extends far beyond the scandalous premiere of Ubu Roi in 1896, illustrating how his concept of 'Pataphysics, the science of imaginary solutions, profoundly influenced avant-garde thought throughout the twentieth century. The study also details Jarry's lesser-known prose works, poetry, and criticism, offering a fully rounded portrait of a writer who lived as radically as he wrote. Essential reading for students of French literature, theatre history, and modernist culture, this authoritative volume remains one of the most thorough English-language assessments of Jarry's life and legacy.