Pataphysician's Library: An Exploration of Alfred Jarry's "Livres Pairs"

Book Description
The Pataphysician�2s Library is a study of aspects of 1890s French literature, with specific reference to the traditions of Symbolism and Decadence. Its main focus is Alfred Jarry, who has proved, perhaps surprisingly, to be one of the more durable fin-de-si�8cle authors. The originality of this study lies in its use of the enigmatic list of books termed the livres pairs, which appears in Jarry�2s 1898 novel Gestes et Opinions du docteur Faustroll, pataphysicien, his best-known prose work. The greatest interest of the livres pairs lies in a group of works by Jarry�2s friends and contemporaries, primarily Leon Bloy, Georges Darien, Gustave Kahn, Catulle Mendes, Josephin Madan, Rachilde, and Henri de Regnier. Several of these authors feature as the lords of islands visited by the pataphysician Dr Faustroll in his curious voyage around Paris. In conjunction with Jarry�2s own works, the contemporary livres pairs serve to illustrate the vibrant and experimental atmosphere in which these authors worked.



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"The focus of The Pataphysician's Library is the enigmatic list of books termed the livres pairs which appears in Alfred Jarry's novel Gestes et Opinions du docteur Faustroll, pataphysicien, completed in 1898. The list includes well-known books and more obscure works, but the greatest interest of the livres pairs lies in the light they throw on the vibrant and experimental atmosphere in which Jarry and his contemporaries worked. Several of Jarry's friends, such as Leon Bloy, Gustave Kahn, Stephane Mallarme, Rachilde and Henri de Regnier feature in the novel, as the rulers of islands visited by the pataphysician Faustroll in his curious voyage around Paris. For the purposes of the voyage, Faustroll reduces each livre pair to its essence; these are often indicative of Jarry's approach to the texts. The second part of the book examines some of the central themes of Symbolist writing as revealed in Jarry's collection of livres pairs." "Jarry is best known as the precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd with his play Ubu Roi, staged in 1896, but this study shows how his prose work relates to contemporary trends and gives a fascinating picture of the French literary avant-garde at the fin-de-siecle."--BOOK JACKET.


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