Customer Reviews (1)

Not quite cruelty
Artaud states that his version of The Cenci is not excatly what he envisions as the Theatre of Cruelty, yet he is toying with elements that are intrensic to his theory. Whether it's the translation or Artaud's stylistic choice, most of the text comes off as hokey, and incongrous with the action he requires. It's a great read to see the dificulties Artaud faced as he tried to make acceptable theater that remained in line with his theories, but one can imagine why the play, when produced, was a huge flop. For furthering one's (hopeful) understanding of Artaud it's imortant and worth reading, but does not have the bite or vision of The Spurt of Blood or There Is No More Firmament. ... Read more

Product Description

As wide and eclectic as Surrealist artist Antonin Artaud's portfolio is, it contains only one work of fiction: a reworking of Matthew Lewis' story of sexual obsession: The Monk, of 1794. Unlike traditional translations, Artaud's version simply used the text as a starting point as he discarded entire chapters and stamped his own distinctive identity on the work. Now, Artaud's version is translated into English for the first time.

With cover quotes from Jean Cocteau and Andre Breton.

Customer Reviews (1)

A work of transgressions.
In the preface to his rewrite of sorts, Artaud writes of the noticable boundaries that are strewn throughout Lewis' indispensable Gothic novel. The context which Artaud places these boundaries in, is in transgressions of limits, & in "The Monk" it is under the various forms that desire takes. "The external, physical, physiological liberties that the monk takes with his victim are nothing compared to the sadistic urge that drives Lewis's imagination at that point to set all the moral as well as physical barriers against the natural urges of love, in order to confront them and defeat them more effectively, in order to reach a kind of physical phosphorescence."
This is for the most part a condensed retelling of Lewis' story, with a few variations & embellishments. While Artaud's only sustained novel, the original story has so many characters & important layers to it, that there's not many additions to Lewis' version.
The story begings in Madrid, where the most revered monk, Ambrosio, is giving Mass. The vast majority of the people present are there less out of their own religious obligations than to see for themselves what everyone praises him for. Having lived inside the monastery all of his life, Ambrosio is consistently praised by the people as well as the other monks residing with him. After a turn of events, he falls from his perfection, which Artaud displays not quite as ambiguously as Lewis did. Ambrosio's initial moral stain leads him to progressively more & bigger offenses against God & leaves him with a torn conscience. This is only the basic story, there are myriad others, each of which is memorable & stays with the reader far after the book has been finished. Now praised as a pinnacle of the Gothic novel, people would do well to read this book given the recent Catholic sexual abuse scandals.
I recommend both Lewis' original & Artaud's retelling. However, the story is so complex that Artaud's version doesn't offer many differences, the few that are there, esp. the segment concerning The Bleeding Nun, are more than worthwhile. ... Read more

Product Description
'Lacan says that the hysteric is a question raised to themedical establishment: Artaud is nothing but the question itself andit's a question raised to art, to theatre, and to society. Thequestion itself cannot be defined because it's the function of thequestion that's important.' (Sylvère Lotringer). 100 Years of Crueltybrings together responses to the Artaud question from some of theleading contemporary scholars working in the Humanities today.

The essays cover a wide variety of topics in opening the Artaudquestion to the disciplines - and the demarcations upon which so muchknowledge and art practice is defined. They are intended as an affrontto conservative thought, as an attack on clinical reason and as anopen challenge to the corporate university. ... Read more

Product Description

The only biography of avant-garde Surrealist artist, filmmaker and theorist Antonin Artaud is now re-published in a new, expanded and updated edition. Spanning his involvement with the Surrealist movement, the seminal Theatre of Cruelty and his 9-year asylum incarceration, this is the definitive biography on this legendary figure of 20th century culture.

Stephen Barber is a noted cultural historian and the leading authority on Artaud. Previous publications include: The Burning World (Edmund White biography), Caligula and Artaud: The Screaming Body (Creation).

Customer Reviews (1)

Mediocre
After reading this my first thought was: "Well, maybe some day they really will come out with a definitive biography of Artaud."
Antonin Artaud, the enigmatic and crazed King of Modern Poetry, is ripe for a huge biography detailing his childhood, the intricacies of his tremendous psychological difficulties, his revolutionary approach to theatre, etc.Maybe Barber does his best with the nearly incomprehensible subject he chose--blurbs about his drug use, his migraine filled childhood, and the standard boring crap about his disagreements with and eventual expulsion from the surrealist movement.The analysis of his 'poetry' is pedestrian, nothing special.I gave it three stars because there are some amusing stories and hitherto untold tales about Artaud's bizarre exploits toward the end of his life.All in all, though, a disappointment. ... Read more

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Product Description
All of Artaud's theatrical ideas collected in one volume Artaud's cherished dream was to found a new kind of theatre in France that would not be an artistic spectacle, but a communion between spectators and actors. This volume contains all of Artaud's key writings on theatre and cinema from 1921 to his death in 1948, together with a definitive commentary on the key texts of this 20th-century theatre visionary. Although his potent theories were never successfully realised during his own tortured lifetime, his revolutionary ideas have inspired the work of Genet, Arrabal, The Living Theatre, Grotowski, Brook and most experimental drama and performance work of the last decades."Artaud was one of the most influential figures in European theatre , one of the great, daring mapmakers of the consciousness in extremis." (Susan Sontag)"For Artaud, the actor is the victim at the stake desperately signalling through the flames." Peter Brook ... Read more