Alfred Jarry

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Photo portrait of Alfred Jarry, 1896, photographer unknown

Alfred Jarry (born September 8, 1873 in Laval , Mayenne department ( Pays de la Loire ), France , † November 1, 1907 in Paris ) was a French writer .

biography

Jarry came from a relatively wealthy Breton bourgeois family. After completing school in Saint-Brieuc, Rennes and at the Lycée Henri IV in Paris, he applied several times to no avail for admission to the École normal supérieure . He subsequently started studying philology at the Sorbonne , also without a degree, in order to continue to work in the Parisian bohemian milieu with literary productions of all genres as well as essays critical of literature and theater. For example, he was inspired by reading HG Wells ' The Time Machineto an essay about the construction of a “machine à explorer le temps”. According to his own statements, the works he created during this phase were also influenced by the evolutionary philosophy of Henri Bergson (his philosophy teacher at the Lycée Henri-IV) and by the novels of François Rabelais .

In June 1896 Jarry was appointed secretary at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre by the artistic director Lugné-Poe and was henceforth entrusted with administrative tasks, public relations and programming. At the Théâtre de l'Œuvre , Jarry's best-known work, the grotesquely comic drama King Ubu, was staged soon after , the premiere of which on December 10, 1896 became one of the most famous scandals in French theater history. After Ubus's initial exclamation “Merdre” (a corruption of merde = shit, translated into German as Schreiße, Schleiße, Scheitze or Schoiße ) the performance had to be interrupted for several minutes due to tangible tumult. The criticisms in the bourgeois press were accordingly devastating and compelled Jarry to make several justifying statements. From 1898 onwards, fragments of the novel Heroic Deeds and Views of Doctor Faustroll appeared in various literary periodicals , which is considered the founding document of " 'Pataphysics ", the science of imaginary solutions, and was one of the founding members of Jarry's fame (see Collège de' Pataphysique ). However, he was still denied artistic recognition and financial success.

Jarry with his bike

In November 1896 Jarry bought a “Clément luxe 96” bike (at the time an expression of unheard-of modernity) for 525 francs, which from then on became his trademark and was to accompany him until his death.

As a result of the lack of reception of his works by the literary public, Jarry increasingly led an outsider existence on the verge of subsistence. In an effort to blur the line between reality and literature, he developed conspicuous quirks and idiosyncrasies , for example he approached his main character Ubu in language and demeanor and indulged in anti-bourgeois excesses. For example, during a gala dinner, he shot a particularly disliked guest several times with a pistol loaded with blank cartridges.

Alfred Jarry died of tuberculous meningitis on November 1, 1907 at the age of 34 . The last sentence he passed down is said to have been a request for a toothpick . After his death, Jarry's biography was more and more obscured by the myth of the horror of the citizens and the “ poète maudit ” hunted by believers .

Theatrical aesthetics

In the systematic breach of the existing theater conventions, which made the world premiere of King Ubu such a scandal, not only Jarry's pronounced inclination for provocation manifests itself, but also the radically new theatrical aesthetics he advocates, which he has presented in various programmatic texts . Jarry turned away from both the declamatory theater of speech or ideas of the classical character, as well as a naturalistic depiction of reality and instead called for a radically a-mimetic “théâtre-action” inspired by puppet theater.

Figures: Jarry's figures are characterized by a type-like heightened de-psychologization and depersonalization. They can usually be fully characterized by a small set of features, their actions are often shaped by irrationality and acausality, they are incapable of change and learning. This is represented externally by the wearing of face masks which, together with a monotonous, artificial voice and a movement pattern typical of the figure, should create a maximum distance between the concrete personality of the actor and the timeless "persona" of the artistic figure.

Décor: Since a realistic stage décor seemed to him to be superfluous ballast for the imagination, Jarry tried to overcome the traditional illusionary stage to create an a-mimetic stage décor that not only unites far-flung places but also indoor and outdoor spaces. Specific location information was to be given via signs (here Jarry cited the Elizabethan theater , among other things ), doors and backdrops were partly replaced by extras who conveyed their respective function through suggestive movements.

Audience: As far as the audience was concerned, Jarry distinguished between the dull, artistically “illiterate” crowd and a small number of sensible initiates, his actual addressees. A genuine audience for his radical art has yet to emerge.

effect

After his death, Jarry's works were largely forgotten outside certain artistic elite circles and were only rediscovered after the Second World War. In terms of its impact, it is one of the most important forerunners and benchmarks of Surrealism , Dadaism and, above all, of absurd theater . James Graham Ballard , Antonin Artaud as well as numerous important authors from the circle of the Collège de 'Pataphysique and the Oulipo ( Raymond Queneau , Boris Vian , Eugène Ionesco , Julio Cortázar etc.) counted him among their literary models. With the figure of the power-hungry, cowardly, abject bourgeois Père Ubu, he created a quasi-mythical anti-hero who found its way into the literary arsenal of figures of the avant-garde and - in the form of the adjective ubuesque - even into everyday French vocabulary .

The French writer André Gide had Jarry appear at an evening party in his 1925 novel The Counterfeiters . He portrays the author colleague as an exalted artist who finally shoots around with blank cartridges.

factories

Single issues

  • King Ubu (French: Ubu roi ), 1896. German by Marlis Pörtner and Paul Pörtner, Zurich 1959.
  • Ubu in Ketten (French: Ubu enchaîné ), 1900. German by Marlis Pörtner and Paul Pörtner, Munich 1970.
  • Ubu cuckold (French: Ubu cocu ). German by Marlis Pörtner and Paul Pörtner, Munich 1970.
  • Messalina , 1900 sequel in La Revue Blanche magazine . 1901 book edition. German by Brigitte Weidmann , Munich 1971.
  • Der Supermann , 1902. German by Greta Tüllmann and Renate Gerhardt, Berlin 1969.
  • Heroic deeds and views of Doctor Faustroll , published in series at various locations between 1898 and 1903, not fully until 1911. German by Irmgard Hartig and Klaus Völker , Berlin 1969.
  • Speculation . Grotesque short prose. 227 speculations appeared in various magazines between 1901 and 1903. German by various translators (selection), Hamburg / Zurich 1988.
  • Days and Nights - A Deserter's Novel . German by Eugen Helmlé, Munich 1985.

Complete edition

Collected works in 11 volumes, edited by Klaus Völker . First and only German work edition, with many German first editions. Paperback, paperback, together approx. 2500 pages. Two thousand and one , Frankfurt / Main 1987.

  • The green candle .
  • The Days and the Nights: A Deserter's Novel .
  • Minute glasses with memory sand. Caesar Antichrist .
  • Ubu. Pieces & Writings .
  • The Pope's big cream puff. Pantagruel .
  • The Popess Joan .
  • The dragoon .
  • Messalina: novel from ancient Rome .
  • Love on a visit. The other Alcestis. Absolute love .
  • The Übermann: Modern novel .
  • Heroic deeds and views of Doctor Faustroll, pataphysicist. Useful commentary on properly designing a machine for exploring time.

Participating translators: Wolfgang Sebastian Baur, Heribert Becker, Ludwig Harig, Frank Heibert, Eugen Helmlé, Alfred Jarry, Grete Osterwald, Jens Salta, Heinz Schwarzinger, Klaus Völker.

Radio play adaptations

  • Heroics and Teachings of Dr. Faustroll (pataphysicist) . Radio play with Dirk von Lowtzow , Lars Rudolph , Alice Dwyer , Hans Jochen Wagner, Blake Worrell, Hitomi Makino. Translation from French: Irmgard Hartwig / Klaus Völker . Processing, composition and realization: zeitblom . BR radio play and media art 2014. As a podcast / download in the BR radio play pool.
  • Ubu Roi (King Ubu) . German ("wiener") version by HC Artmann . With: Erwin Steinhauer (father Ubu), Brigitte Svoboda (mother Ubu), Toni Böhm (captain Jaucherl), Peter Faerber , Fritz Muliar (King Wenzeslaus) and others. Composition: Heinz Karl Gruber, arrangement and direction: Heinz Hostnig. BR / NDR / ORF 1990.

literature

  • Keith Beaumont: Alfred Jarry. A Critical and Biographical Study. Palgrave Macmillan 1985, ISBN 031201712X & Leicester UP 1984
  • Alastair Brotchie: Alfred Jarry. A pataphysical life. Translated from the English and French by Yvonne Badal. Piet Meyer, Bern 2014, ISBN 978-3-905799-25-5 .
  • Riewert Ehrich: Individuation and occultism in Alfred Jarry's novels. Fink, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-77052494-2 . Zugl. Diss. Phil. Freiburg 1986.
  • Riewert Ehrich: Jarry and art - Jarry in art. In: Beate Ochsner (Ed.): Jarry - le monstre / Das Monster 1900. Shaker, Aachen 2002, pp. 185–199.
  • Riewert Ehrich: Miró and Jarry: a contribution to literary reception in the visual arts. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-631-54212-5 .
  • Riewert Ehrich: Alfred Jarry's last wish: a toothpick / L'ultimo desiderio di Alfred Jarry: uno stuzzicadenti . (German-Italian) Edizioni collage de 'pataphysique, Sovere 2016.
  • Riewert Ehrich: Dernier voeu: un cure-dent. Viridis Candela. Le Publicateur du Collège de 'Pataphysique, 9e série - no. 28, June 15, 2021, pp. 44–51.
  • Klaus Ferentschik: Pataphysics. Temptation of the mind. The 'Pataphysik & the Collège de' Pataphysique . Definitions, documents, illustrations. Matthes & Seitz, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-88221-877-0 .
  • Carola Giedion-Welcker : Alfred Jarry. A monograph. Arche, Zurich 1960, 1988, ISBN 3-71603512-2 .
  • Jürgen Grimm: The Jarrys Theater. In: Jürgen Grimm: The avant-garde theater of France. 1885-1930. Munich 1982, ISBN 3-406-08438-9 , pp. 269-300.
  • Beate Ochsner (Ed.): Jarry - le monstre / Das Monster 1900. Shaker, Aachen 2002, ISBN 3-83220809-7 .
  • Ilse Pollak: Pataphysics, Symbolism and Anarchism in Jarry. Böhlau, Vienna 1984, ISBN 3-20506040-7 .
  • Achim Schröder: Alfred Jarry "Ubu roi" 1896 and Guillaume Apollinaire "Les Mamelles de Tirésias" 1917. In: Konrad Schoell (ed.): French literature. 20th century: theater. Publishing house and series Stauffenburg Interpretation, Tübingen 2006, ISBN 3-86057911-8 .

Web links

Commons : Alfred Jarry  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Alfred Jarry  - Sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ BR radio play pool - Jarry, heroic deeds and teachings of Dr. Faustroll (pataphysicist)
personal data
SURNAME Jarry, Alfred
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French author
BIRTH DATE September 8, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Laval (Mayenne) , France
DATE OF DEATH November 1, 1907
PLACE OF DEATH Paris , France