Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) was a French playwright and artist, best known for his eccentric behavior, and role in the development of the Theater of the Absurd. He is most famous for writing Ubu Roi, a grotesque and satirical play whose lead character is inspired by Jarry’s school teacher. Born in Laval, France in 1873, Jarry moved to Paris at the age of 18, where he became inspired by the French Symbolist movement led by Stephané Mallarmé and André Gide.

As a form of rebellion against realism, Jarry wrote plays and poems, created drawings, and even invented his own “logic of the absurd” called ‘Pataphysics. His prose and illustrations, which went on to inspire artists of the surrealist and dadaist movements, often descended into incoherence.

“One can show one’s contempt for the cruelty and stupidity of the world by making of one’s life a poem of incoherence and absurdity,” Jarry once said.

Jarry passed away in 1907 in Paris the age of 34, as a result of his abuse of alcohol and drugs. His work continues to inspire and is included in collections at the Museum of Modern Art and the Morgan Library and Museum.

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(https://www.moma.org/artists/2893)

Alfred Jarry (French: [al.fʁɛd ʒa.ʁi]; 8 September 1873 – 1 November 1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play Ubu Roi (1896). He also coined the term and philosophical concept of ‘pataphysics.

Jarry was born in Laval, Mayenne, France, and his mother was from Brittany. He was associated with the Symbolist movement. His play Ubu Roi is often cited as a forerunner of Dada and the Surrealist and Futurist movements of the 1920s and 1930s.

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.

Alfred Jarry Painting