Alfred Jarry

Born in Laval, France, in 1873, Alfred Jarry became one of the most unusual literary figures of the fin de siècle. He studied in Rennes and Paris, moved in Symbolist circles, and wrote poetry, prose, and criticism as well as plays.

He is most famous for Ubu Roi, first performed in 1896, a work whose grotesque humor and shocking language caused an uproar. That play later made him a key precursor to surrealism, Dada, and the Theater of the Absurd.

Jarry also wrote the novel Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician, which became central to his playful mock-science of 'pataphysics. He died in Paris in 1907 at just 34, but his strange, rebellious imagination continued to influence writers and artists long after his death.