ALFRED JARRY (1873-1907) was a French Symbolist author who wrote in a variety of hybrid genres and styles.  He authored plays, novels, poetry, essays and speculative journalism but is mainly known as the creator of the grotesque and wild satirical farce UBU ROI (1896).  His texts are considered examples of absurdist literature and postmodern philosophy.

UBU ROI ("King Ubu") premiered in Paris in 1896 and was a watershed in theatre history, earning its author instant notoriety.  It is often cited as a forerunner of Dada, and to the Surrealist and Futurist movements of the 1920s and 1930.  The principal character is Père Ubu, a grotesque and repulsive character who becomes the king of Poland.  Ubu symbolizes the crass stupidity and avarice of the bourgeoisie as his lust for power drives him to abuse his authority and commit acts of cruelty in the name of questionable principles.  The play's first production caused a scandal and it closed after two nights, partly a result of the outrage felt by the audience at Ubu's speech which was purposely deformed and vulgar, riddled with malapropisms and derisive absurdities.  Jarry's sequels, written in the same savage vein, included UBU ENCHAINED (1900) and UBU CUCKOLDED (1944).

Jarry also published stories and novels, but the brilliant imagery and wit of these works often lapse into incoherence and a meaningless and often scatological symbolism.  THE SUPERMALE (1902) is a disturbing and hilarious vision of the future (the 1920s!).  Jarry combines fin-de-siècle love of posing with Gargantuan sexual excess, in a short novel whose black humor in many ways anticipates the Surrealists and such disparate writers as Queneau and Genet.  Choosing to test man's potential in the sexual arena, Jarry created a remarkable piece of bittersweet erotica, comic in its wit and deliberate pretension, and poignant in the Supermale's conclusion: "Assiduous lovemaking leaves no time to experience love."

The posthumous publication of EXPLOITS AND OPINIONS OF DR FAUSTROLL, PATAPHYSICIAN (1911), an anarchic novel of absurdist philosophy, describes the exploits and teachings of a sort of anti-philosopher who travels through a hallucinatory Paris in a sieve and subscribes to the tenets of "pataphysics", Jarry's invented "science of imaginary solutions."

In his final years, Jarry was a legendary and heroic figure to some of the young writers and artists in Paris, including Guillaume Apollinaire, André Salmon and Max Jacob.  He died in a state of utter destitution and alcoholism.


The following books are in ePUB and/or PDF format as indicated:

* Exploits & Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician (Exact Change, 1996).  Simon Watson Taylor, trans. -- PDF (by @Mohamed5438)

* Supermale (New Directions, 1977).  Ralph Gladstone and Barbara Wright, trans. -- PDF (by @Mohamed5438)

* Ubu Plays, The (Grove, 1969).  Cyril Connolly and Simon Watson Taylor, trans. -- ePUB + PDF (by @Mohamed5438)

* Ubu Roi (Dover, 2003).  Beverly Keith and G. Legman, trans. -- ePUB

* Ubu Roi (New Directions, 1961).  Barbara Wright, trans. -- PDF

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