excerpt from

Alfred Jarry (French, 1873-1907)
by Stephen Goddard

Alfred Jarry is best known for his satirical and farcical Ubu Roi (King Ubu). The figure of Ubu is a grotesque personification of human greed and ignorance. The scandalous success of Jarry's play had far-reaching repercussions. The Theater of the Absurd and the various manifestations of the Dadaists and Surrealists find an important precursor in anarchic and hallucinatory work of Jarry. There was much more to Jarry than Ubu, however. His text on the imaginary Dr. Faustroll betrays an unsettling anticipation of quantum physics. In addition to his prolific literary career, Jarry also made many images. The standard catalogue by Michel Arrivé includes 82 prints, paintings, and drawings. For example, Jarry designed the posters advertising the first performance of Ubu Roi by the Théâtre de l'Oeuvre in 1896, and the first edition of this play includes Jarry's unforgettable woodcut of Ubu...

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