Visits Of Love

by Alfred Jarry

ALFRED JARRY is chiefly known as the creator of UBU, the anti-hero of what is acknowledged as the first "absurd" drama, but this was only one facet of a writer now seen as one of the most vital (and peculiar) influences on the French literature of this century.

Visits of Love was Jarry's second novel, originally written for a publisher specialising in erotica (who must have been perplexed by the result). The "visits" consist of a remarkable series of tableaux, dialogues and assignations which deviously undermine the dreary situations of conventional erotic writing. They become more and more extravagant, transcending the everyday, passing beyond death, returning to bizarre versions of historical myths, or to the lavatorial trysts of Madame Ubu. Jarry's intricate style is pushed to its furthest limits, from crude buffoonery to ornate Symbolist texts of earnest intensity.

Certain chapters are unique in his Raymond Queneau described The Old Man of the Mountain as Jarry's most perfect work, and ' the episode Fear Visits Love is among his most often reprinted works in France. Despite its curious origins, the novel is an essential part of Jarry's oeuvre.

Genres: France, Fiction, Literature

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side.
Best known for his play Ubu Roi (1896), which is often cited as a forerunner to the surrealist theatre of the 1920s and 1930s, Jarry wrote in a variety of genres and styles. He wrote plays, novels, poetry, essays and speculative journalism. His texts present some pioneering work in the field of absurdist literature. Sometimes grotesque or misunderstood (i.e. the opening line in his play Ubu Roi, "Merdre!", has been translated into English as "Pshit!", "Shitteth!", "Shittr!", "Shikt!", "Shrit!" and "Pschitt!"), he invented a pseudoscience called 'Pataphysics.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Chuck LoPresti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jarry writes in several different modes and often serveral at once. He's probably the definition of literary absurdity but he's also possibly Rabelais's best student. At times his writing is somewhat like Pierre Klossowski in that he's bent on proving how well read he is - and both Jarry and K. are VERY well read indeed. But sometimes this mode becomes laborious to readers that are not his peers. You can almost feel him nudging his peers and smugly waiting for their approval but there's worse literary sins that that. The reviews claim this was submitted for an "erotic" journal but there's little "sexy" involved here. Just as Rabelais wasn't afraid to include banal in his lofty considerations - Jarry (and Klossowski FWIW) is very much in touch with each of his orafices. This makes him more scientific than sexy the way I see things - but Gulliver faced similar reproach when he tried to explain that urine was the most efficient tool available to achieve a mutual goal. If you're not shocked by unrestrained banality, scholarly name-dropping and blatant absuridty - you're probably not going to read this review either way. If bicycles, blowjobs and drinking yourself to death are amongst the methods you consider employable to live a more interesting life - you are probably going to love Jarry. This is not a good place to start with Jarry - but those that are familiar with him will appreciate this. I'd say the iconic Ubu Roi and Faustroll are better starting points. Faustroll is worth the coin for the list of Faustroll's Library which will provide you many years of amazing reading - check that out for certain. Ben Fisher's book makes a great compliment to Faustroll as it details the contents of that list in scholarly detail, by my green candle.

[Rupert Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always appreciated the 'pataphysics of Alfed Jarry, and Visits of Love is a fine example of Jarry executing a work of anti-erotica, muddled with short prose on visiting various brothels the short novel is dispersed with visits to the Doctor, visits by Fear to Love, and visits to Death. For me, I took these visitations as a reworking farce to do with the earnestness to be had with Victorian erotica and smutty literature, as Jarry cuts the genre with a sneeringly distracted and sarcastic hoity-toity drunkenness of thought.

Due to Jarry having a rather small body of work, this is certainly a pleasurable read, and embodies his ability to write by the coattails of his subconsciousness.

[Agnes Roantree · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in translation. Huge mistake.