Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry
Jarry in 1896
Jarry in 1896
Born(1873-09-08)8 September 1873
Laval, France
Died1 November 1907(1907-11-01) (aged 34)
Paris, France
OccupationWriter and dramatist
NationalityFrench
Genre'Pataphysics

Alfred Jarry (French: [alfʁɛd ʒaʁi]; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play Ubu Roi (1896), often cited as a forerunner of the Dada, Surrealist, and Futurist movements of the 1920s and 1930s and later the Theatre of the absurd In the 1950s and 1960s [1][2] He also coined the term and philosophical concept of 'pataphysics.[3]

Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, and his mother was from Brittany.[4] He wrote in a variety of hybrid genres and styles, prefiguring the postmodern, including novels, poems, short plays and opéras bouffes, absurdist essays and speculative journalism. His texts are considered examples of absurdist literature and postmodern philosophy.

  1. ^ Fenstermaker, Will (8 June 2020). "The Twisted Legacy of Alfred Jarry's Monsters". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  2. ^ Jarry, Alfred. "Ubu Roi". Dover (2003).
  3. ^ ""Pataphysics - 01 edition"". Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2015.
  4. ^ Brotchie, Alastair. Alfred Jarry, a Pataphysical Life. MIT Press (2013). ISBN 978 0 262 01619 3.