Customer Reviews

Alfred Jarry: The Man With the Axe

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An exceptional and comprehensive overview of the life of Pa Ubu himself! This book is very well researched and written (and illustrated!) with a sense of humor that Jarry would have appreciated. "Man With An Axe" is by far the best source of biographical info on Jarry in English. Jarry fanatics (especially those that cannot read French) should look no further.

By far, the most accessible biography of Alfred Jarry and his times. If you loved the 'Children of the Revolution' as depicted in the Baz Luhrman film of Moulin Rouge, then read on!

With the brilliant and quirky illustrations of Bill Griffiths, Nigey Lennon's book is an entertaining and thought provoking look into the genius of this little madman from Laval. She captures the spirit of Paris during the belle epoque, it's artists, and later goes into Jarry's Pataphysics.

For those of you whose tried to decipher Jarry from Roger Shattucks 'The Banquet Years' (a brilliant but dry study of the same period) I highly recommend you peruse Alfred Jarry: Man With An Axe. . . it's a great book!

A fantastic source of info on Alfred Jarry, a genuinely seminal if somewhat forgotten artistic figure.

Jarry was the deviser of 'pataphysics' - a sort of science of surrealism, and lead a rather anarchic existance in fin-de-seacle Paris - in many ways a creative forefather to the varied likes of William Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson. Jarry was best known for the riot-provoking play "Ubu Roi," which, some 80 years down the road, inspired the name (and some of the stage presence) of the band Pere Ubu.

Lennon's biography is accessible and well-researched, with a number of line drawings as illustrations, in the spirit of Jarry himself. A fascinating read.

-David Alston