Pataphysician's Library: An Exploration of Alfred Jarry's Livres pairs'

238 Pages·2001·2.35 MB·English

by  Ben Fisher

The Pataphysician’s Library
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The Pataphysician’s
Library
An exploration of
Alfred Jarry’s livres pairs
Ben Fisher
LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS
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First published 2000 by
Liverpool University Press
4 Cambridge Street
Liverpool
L69 7ZU
Copyright © Liverpool University Press 2000
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording
or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A British Library CIP Record is available
ISBN 0–85323–916-9 hardback
ISBN 0–85323–926-6 paperback
Typeset in Goudy by Koinonia, Bury
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow
Bell and Bain Ltd, Glasgow
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For Otto
(it’s a cat thing)
Wer suchet, dem wird aufgetan
Der Ceylonlöwe ist kein Schwan
(Cabaret Voltaire)
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
PART I: FAUSTROLL’S LIBRARY
The Pictures 15
Une affiche de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril 15
Une de Bonnard, La Revue Blanche 16
Un portrait du sieur Faustroll, par Aubrey Beardsley 17
Une vieille image, Saint Cado 17
The Books 21
Baudelaire, un tome d’Edgar Poe, traduction 23
Bergerac, Œuvres, tome II 25
L’Evangile de Saint Luc, en grec 29
Bloy, Le Désespéré 31
Bloy, Le Mendiant ingrat 35
Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 38
Darien, Biribi 40
Darien, Le Voleur 43
Desbordes-Valmore, Le Serment des petits hommes 46
Elskamp, Salutations, dont d’angéliques 50
Elskamp, Enluminures 54
Un volume dépareillé du Théâtre de Florian 57
Un volume dépareillé des Mille et Une Nuits, traduction Galland 59
Grabbe, Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung 61
Kahn, Le Livre d’images 65
Kahn, Le Conte de l’Or et du Silence 69
Lautréamont, Les Chants de Maldoror 74
Maeterlinck, Pelléas et Mélisande 75
Maeterlinck, Aglavaine et Sélysette 78
Mallarmé, Divagations 80
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viii Contents
Mallarmé, Vers et prose 81
Mendès, Gog 83
L’Odyssée, édition Teubner 89
Péladan, Babylone 90
Rabelais 95
Jean de Chilra, La Princesse des ténèbres 98
Jean de Chilra, L’Heure sexuelle 101
Henri de Régnier, La Canne de jaspe 104
Rimbaud, Les Illuminations 109
Schwob, La Croisade des enfants 111
Ubu Roi 114
Verlaine, Sagesse 115
Verhaeren, Les Campagnes hallucinées 118
Verne, Le Voyage au Centre de la Terre 122
Observations 127
PART II: RECURRING THEMES
Faith and Esoterica: Symbolist Thought 133
Esoteric Themes and Treatments 134
The Gospel according to Mendès 139
Esoteric Tolerances 141
Péladan 142
Magi 147
Faith without Esotericism 153
Bloy: Faith and Constraint 157
Jarry: Hermeticism and Faith 160
Heroes: The Symbolist Übermensch 171
The Avoidance of Heroes 172
The Decline of the Decadent 174
The Rise of the Aggressive Individualist 180
The Symbolist Hero 189
Conclusion 204
Bibliography 209
Index 223
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Acknowledgements
The completion of this work leaves me with a debt of gratitude to
numerous individuals and bodies. Particular thanks are due to the
following: Peter Hutchinson for encouragement in starting off in the first
place; Adrian Ritchie, Alan Busst, Michael Tilby and Walter Redfern for
valued advice at various stages; the library staff in various countries who
have followed up my many odd requests, always with eventual success; the
warden and staff at Gregynog Hall for the tranquil atmosphere that helped
greatly with work at an important stage; Katharine Hodgson for comments
on the text; my family, in particular my brother Joe for many invaluable
bouts of brainstorming; and the University of Wales for injecting both
faith and on occasion phynance into my project.
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