Abstract
In my essay, I present my own work as a playwright, which stands at the intersection between surrealism, the absurd and pataphysics. I establish esthetic and philosophical distinctions between these three literary schools and movements. But I also stress the fact that they are never mutually exclusive: instead, they complement each other in the creation of an original language that exceeds the narrow boundaries of realism and rationalism. I then study the issue of ludics by showing that it holds a definite power of transgression. This transgression is both of a linguistic and of a political nature. In my perspective, ludics necessarily includes a form of critical thinking that engages the theatrical text within the community and radically questions the values and the norms of both the social order and mainstream culture.
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Notes
- 1.
See this regarding my monograph in Pierre Taminiaux, Robert Pinget (Paris: Le Seuil, 1994).
- 2.
Taminiaux, Feu noir (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2009).
- 3.
Taminiaux, Le Refus (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2011).
- 4.
Taminiaux, La Faille (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2014).
- 5.
Taminiaux, Le Grand chambardement (Paris, L’Harmattan, 2016).
- 6.
Taminiaux, edited by Vasile Robciuc, Dire (Cahiers Internationaux Tristan Tzara, 2016).
- 7.
Taminiaux, Les Dormeurs (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2017).
- 8.
Alfred Jarry, Ubu Roi, in Tout Ubu (Paris: Fasquelle, 1968).
- 9.
I analyzed Jarry’s main play in the first chapter of my book Taminiaux, Surmodernités: entre rêve et technique (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2003), 15–40. I studied in particular the metaphor of the machine in King Ubu.
- 10.
André Breton, Manifestes du surréalisme (Paris: Gallimard, 2003).
- 11.
In this regard, Breton’s work for the theater is mostly limited to two short plays (S’il vous plaît and Vous m’oublierez) that he co-authored with Philippe Soupault in 1919, when he was barely twenty-three years old. They are included in Breton, Les Champs magnétiques (Paris: Gallimard, 1971), 125–178.
- 12.
Breton, Nadja (Paris: Gallimard, 1990).
- 13.
Antonin Artaud, Le Théâtre et son double (Paris: Gallimard, 1966).
- 14.
Breton, Le Surréalisme et la peinture (Paris: Gallimard, 1965).
- 15.
Eugène Ionesco, Rhinocéros (Paris: Gallimard, 2001).
- 16.
I want to refer here to the Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year 2016, which was precisely post-truth. It is defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’.
- 17.
Taminiaux, L’Ellipse et le cercle: art, poésie, politique (Paris: Les Impliqués, 2016).
- 18.
See in this regard Taminiaux, Les Mots de l’art (Amay: L’Arbre à paroles, 2012), which is inspired by the art of both Hans Arp and Juan Gris, and also Taminiaux, Poésie bleue (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2018), which is inspired by Jazz music.
- 19.
See in this regard Taminiaux, The Paradox of Photography (Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2009), which analyzes the critical discourse on photography by Baudelaire, Breton and Valéry, and also Taminiaux, Littératures modernistes et arts d’avant-garde (Paris: Honoré Champion, 2013), which includes an essay on Tzara’s Dada Manifestoes as well as on the esthetic relationship between the poetry of Mallarmé and the late narrative works of Beckett.
Bibliography
Artaud, Antonin. Le Théâtre et son double. Paris: Gallimard, 1966.
Breton, André. Le Surréalisme et la peinture. Paris: Gallimard, 1965.
——— (with Soupault, Philippe). Les Champs magnétiques. Paris: Gallimard, 1971.
———. Nadja. Paris: Gallimard, 1990.
———. Manifestes du surréalisme. Paris: Gallimard, 2003.
Ionesco, Eugène. Rhinocéros. Paris: Gallimard, 2001.
Jarry, Alfred. Tout Ubu. Paris: Fasquelle, 1968.
Taminiaux, Pierre. Robert Pinget. Paris: Le Seuil, 1994.
———. Surmodernités: entre rêve et technique. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2003.
———. The Paradox of Photography. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2009.
———. Feu noir. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2009.
———. Le Refus. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2011.
———. Les Mots de l’art. Amay: L’Arbre à paroles, 2012.
———. Littératures modernistes et arts d’avant-garde. Paris: Honoré Champion, 2013.
———. La Faille. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2014.
———. Le Grand chambardement. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2016.
———. Dire. Cahiers Internationaux Tristan Tzara, 2016.
———. L’Ellipse et le cercle: art, poésie, politique. Paris: Les Impliqués, 2016.
———. Les Dormeurs. Paris: L’Harmattan, 2017.
———. Poésie bleue, Paris: L’Harmattan, 2018.
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Taminiaux, P. (2021). Ludics as Transgression: From Surrealism to the Absurd to Pataphysics. In: Rapti, V., Gordon, E. (eds) Ludics. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7435-1_17
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