Jarry, Alfred (1873—1907)
French novelist and playwright who influenced Surrealism and Dada, but also the Situationism and the OULIPO authors who were attracted to his concept of ’pataphysics, or the science of imaginary solutions. A conspicuously eccentric figure, Jarry is best remembered for his play Ubu Roi (King Ubu, 1896) which caused such a scandal on its opening night, largely because of the swearing it contained. It wasn’t staged again for more than a decade. It has since become a cornerstone of the Absurdism theatre canon. His late novel, Le Surmâle (1902), translated as The Supermale (1964), is an inspiration for Deleuze, Gilles and Félix Guattari’s concept of the desiring-machine. Further Reading: K. Beaumont Alfred Jarry: A Critical and Biographical Study (1984).