Ubu Roi

By Alfred Jarry

Book Overview

When it first opened in Paris in late 1896, Ubu Roi immediately outraged audiences with its scatological references and surrealist style. Spectators rioted during the premiere (and final) performance and unrelenting controversy over the play's meaning followed. The quality and stunning impact of the work, however, was never questioned. Early drafts of the play were written by Jarry in his teens to ridicule one of his teachers. The farce was done in the form of stylized burlesque, satirizing the tendency of the successful bourgeois to abuse his authority and become irresponsibly complacent. Ubu -- the cruel, gluttonous, and grotesque main character (the author's metaphor for modern man) -- anticipated characteristics of the Dada movement. In the 1920s, Dadaists and Surrealists championed the play, recognizing Ubu Roi as the first absurdist drama.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486426874
• ISBN13: 9780486426877
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.2" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Ubu Forever!

At $ 3.99 a copy you can't go wrong. I found this in the bargain bin at a local bookstore and thought I was in an absinthe delirium. The brilliant beginning of avant-garde theatre. Don't miss it.

Not just Ubu Roi!

1991 22nd printing includes; Ubu Roi, a Drama in 5 acts; The Song of Disembraining by Alfred Jarry; 2 essays on the theatre by Jarry - "Questions of the Theatre" and "Of the Futility of the "Theatrical" In the Theatre";2 portraits of author by L. Lantier and F. A. Cazals;several drawings by Jarry and Pierre Bonnard;204 drawings by Franciszka Themerson doodled on lithographic plates. Fascinating book!

Not just Ubu Roi!

1991 22nd printing includes; Ubu Roi (drama in 5 acts); The Song of Disembraining;2 essays on theatre by Alfred Jarry-"Questions of the Theatre" and "Of the Futility of the "Theatrical" In the Theatre";2 portraits of the author by L. Lantier and F.A. Cazals, several drawings by Jarry and Pierre Bonnard and 204 drawings by Franciszka Themerson doodled on lithographic plates. Fascinating little book!

supremely funny and farcical

Hugely, magnificently funny. I saw a live production of this play on an education channel some years ago. It is totally anarchic and joyful.