Artaud and His Doubles

Title Page, Copyright

Artaud and His Doubles Kimberly Jannarone the university of michigan press : Ann Arbor First paperback edition 2012 Copyright © by the University of Michigan 2010 All rights reserved This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publisher. Published in the United States of America by The University of Michigan Press Manufactured in the United States of America c Printed on acid-free paper 2015 2014 2013 2012 5 4 3 2 A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Jannarone, Kimberly. Artaud and his doubles / Kimberly Jannarone. p. cm. — (Theater: theory/text/performance) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-472-11736-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Artaud, Antonin, 1896–1948—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Artaud, Antonin, 1896–1948—Knowledge—Performing arts. 3. Experimental theater—France—History—20th century. 4. Drama— History and criticism—Theory, etc. 5. Cruelty in literature. I. Title. PQ2601.R677Z685 2010 848'.91209—dc22 2010024619 978-0-472-02794-1 (e-book) ISBN: 978-0-472-03515-1 (paper : alk. paper) For Olive Raeder and in memory of Richard Raeder, for making so much possible. A madman, helpless, outcast and despised, who drags out a twilight existence in some asylum, may, through the insights he procures us, prove more important than Hitler or Napoleon, illuminating for mankind its curse and its masters. —elias canetti, Crowds and Power preface This is an unlooked-for project. Like many others, I first saw Artaud through the filters of American experimental theater and post-structuralism . My earliest work on Artaud began from accepted familiar premises, largely established in the 1960s: Artaud as prophet, madman, genius, was the thing to study; his significance lay in his status as an inspirational figure manifesting a largely ahistorical impulse; his denunciation of civilization’s discontents implied a progressive critique. My research led me in different directions, however. Fueled by a desire to really read Artaud’s works closely—especially his early writing and his productions —I dug into the archives to research Artaud’s theatrical practice. There I found, much to my surprise, that he had a gift for directing that had been recognized by his contemporaries but completely ignored by his successors. I began to wonder what was at stake in keeping Artaud’s theory separate from his practice, in deciding that Artaud meant only insofar as we abstracted him. In 2005, I published some of this research in an essay on Artaud’s directing in the Alfred Jarry Theater. To highlight the very real practical talents of a figure known almost only for his theories , I avoided discussion of his later, most famous work, The Theater and Its Double, and its key term, “cruelty.” I initially had expected the archival research to feed into a book on Artaud’s theater practice. While that material does inform the study at hand, the significance it has assumed has changed significantly. Reading his work in the context of the 1920s and ’30s confirmed that the young Artaud had plenty in common with other young Parisian artists of the early twentieth century. At first, he seemed to fit in with these idealists, ready to starve for their ambitions, working with the feeling that they were about to create a revolution. But I noticed that the path Artaud took had a radically different fundamental orientation than that of his Parisian peers. In order to both get my own bearings and understand what set Artaud apart from his contemporaries, I soon felt I needed to ex- amine his most well-known work, The Theater and Its Double, on its own terms, historically situated, outside of received associations with avantgarde ideas and especially outside of the concerns of his latter-day followers . The process was a de-familiarizing experience. Artaud’s writings reflect an implacable belief that every material thing, every differentiated object and every force compelling them, is cruel, corrupt, sick, evil. The only true peace his works envision lies in undifferentiated - or nonbeing. The force animating Artaud’s oeuvre—what gives it its...