The next day Artaud took me to see a friend of his who was in Paris for a few weeks, Jean Painlevé. The man had both filmed and co-starred with Artaud in a cinematic snippet in 1927, Mathuselam or the Eternal Bourgeois, which was interspersed with the live performance of a play of theContinue reading “From Book 3: Let Us Péret”
Category Archives: Book 3 – Theatre of Cruelty
From Book 3: Nin and the Cane
Author’s note: Artaud’s cane disturbed people, but Breton had one (and he used it as a weapon), Anaïs Nin’s father had one (and killed a cat with it), and Nin’s lover/psychoanalyst René Allendy beat her with one – but only Antonin Artaud got locked up in asylums. Though Artaud’s later embrace of celibacy (or shamContinue reading “From Book 3: Nin and the Cane”
From Book 3: The Sins of Nin, Part Two
Again, I use the diary of Anais Nin as a resource because I think it accurate about events, but not interpretations. Franz, for his part, came to the supper table at night irritated at the French attitude toward money. “I’m sick of their peasant thrift,” he grumbled. “All these hard-headed villagers are flocking toContinue reading “From Book 3: The Sins of Nin, Part Two”
From Book 3: The Sins of Nin, Part One
Author’s note: If I could go back in time I would definitely protect him from this venomous female. In the light from the lamp in the kitchen we ate and listened to the storm. I saw him examine me for a moment before he spoke again. I wasn’t so dim that I could notContinue reading “From Book 3: The Sins of Nin, Part One”
From Book 3: Balthus and Laudanum
In June, 1934 Balthus attempted suicide and Artaud found him. Previous scene here. Valentine Hugo trailed me to the door and exchanged some more meaningless pleasantries with me while I kept backing away. When I finally reached the street, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was far from Montparnasse but I decided to stopContinue reading “From Book 3: Balthus and Laudanum”
From Book 3: Portrait of Antonin Artaud
This is based on research of course, but it’s eerie how much I guessed before it was confirmed by research. He was not what I expected, even after all these years. I discovered there was always more to learn about Antonin Artaud. Like me he experienced sudden vertigo, especially at high places but alsoContinue reading “From Book 3: Portrait of Antonin Artaud”
Book 3: Desnos Meets Aube
Author’s note: Many scenes and situations in this series are fictionalized to bring out certain facts and themes. There is no evidence that Robert Desnos ever met Andre Breton’s infant daughter Aube. It is October, 1936 and Artaud is still in Mexico. Jacqueline Lamba and her husband have quarreled and Jacqueline left for a time.Continue reading “Book 3: Desnos Meets Aube”
From Book 3: Aube
I understand Aube Elléouët-Breton still lives in Paris. This fictional section is offered in respect and affection. It is October, 1937 and Jacqueline Lamba has quarreled with her husband and left Paris for a time, leaving Aube with her father. Artaud was still lecturing in Mexico City, and Louis was preoccupied with his upcomingContinue reading “From Book 3: Aube”
From Book 3: George Malkine and Louis Aragon’s Buttocks
I had a garden. Not much of one, but in Desnos’s scrabbly yard, between the two large sunken medallions in the ground that had been apparently stolen long ago from a cemetery, I managed to plant flowers, herbs, and even a few rows of carrots, and Louis and I would crawl through the lilacsContinue reading “From Book 3: George Malkine and Louis Aragon’s Buttocks”
From Book 3: Fisher of Men
“Read here,” Breton said, pointing out a passage. “I never know what he’s talking about, but I think it might mean something to you.” I read it out loud: The Time has come when the Son and the Holy Ghost will enter into conflict and destroy each other to permit the disappearance ofContinue reading “From Book 3: Fisher of Men”
The Double 