Synopses & Reviews
The Pataphysicians 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-siècle authors. The originality of this study lies in its use of the enigmatic list of books termed the livres pairs, which appears in Jarrys 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 Jarrys 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 Jarrys own works, the contemporary livres pairs serve to illustrate the vibrant and experimental atmosphere in which these authors worked.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
PART I: FAUSTROLL'S LIBRARY
The Pictures
—Une affiche de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril
—Une de Bonnard, La Revue Blanche
—Un portrait du sieur Faustroll, par Aubrey Beardsley
—Une vieille image, Saint Cado
The Books
—Baudelaire, un tome d'Edgar Poe, traduction
—Bergerac, Oeuvres, tome II
—L'Evangile de Saint Luc, en grec
—Bloy, Le Désespéré
—Bloy, Le Mendiant ingrat
—Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
—Darien, Biribi
—Darien, Le Voleur
—Desbordes-Valmore, Le Serment des petits hommes
—Elskamp, Salutations, dont d'angéliques
—Elskamp, Enluminures
—Un volume dépareillé du Théâtre de Florian
—Un volume dépareillé des Mille et Une Nuits, traduction Galland
—Grabbe, Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung
—Kahn, Le Livre d'images
—Kahn, Le Conte de L'Or et du Silence
—Lautréamont, Les Chants de Maldoror
—Maeterlinck, Pelléas et Mélisande
—Maeterlinck, Aglavaine et Sélysette
—Mallarmé, Divagations
—Mallarmé, Vers et prose
—Mendès, Gog
—L'Odyssée, édition Teubner
—Péladan, Babylone
—Rabelais
—Jean de Chilra, La Princesse des ténèbres
—Jean de Chilra, L'Heure sexuelle
—Henri de Régnier, La Canne de jaspe
—Rimbaud, Les Illuminations
—Schwob, La Croisade des enfants
—Ubu Roi
—Verlaine, Sagesse
—Verhaeren, Les Campagnes hallucinées
—Verne, Le Voyage au Centre de la Terre
Observations
PART II: RECURRING THEMES
Faith and Esoterica: Symbolist Thought
—Esoteric Themes and Treatments
—The Gospel according to Mendès
—Esoteric Tolerances
—Péladan
—Magi
—Faith without Esotericism
—Bloy: Faith without Esotericism
—Bloy: Faith and Constraint
—Jarry: Hermeticism and Faith
Heroes: The Symbolist Übermensch
—The Avoidance of Heroes
—The Decline of the Decadent
—The Rise of the Aggressive Individualist
—The Symbolist Hero
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index