Artaud 1937 Apocalypse: Letters from Ireland

by Antonin Artaud, Stephen Barber (Editor), Martin Bladh (Illustrator)

Antonin Artaud's 1937 apocalyptic journey to Ireland and his writings from that journey form an extraordinary moment of accumulating disintegration and tenacious creativity in his work. After publishing a manifesto prophecy about the catastrophic immediate-future entitled The New Revelations of Being, Artaud abruptly left Paris and travelled to Ireland, remaining there for six weeks and existing without money, travelling first to the isolated island of Inishmore off Ireland's western coast, then to Galway, and finally to Dublin, where he was arrested as an undesirable alien, beaten by the police, and summarily deported back to France. On his return, he spent nine years in lunatic asylums, including the entire span of the Second World War. During that journey to Ireland - on which he accumulated signs of his forthcoming apocalypse, and planned his own role in it as 'THE REVEALED ONE' - Artaud wrote letters to friends in Paris and also created several magic spells, intended to curse his enemies and to protect his friends from Paris's forthcoming incineration and the Antichrist's appearance at the Deux Magots cafe. To André Breton, he wrote: 'It's the Unbelievable - yes, the Unbelievable - it's the Unbelievable which is the truth.' Many of his writings from Ireland were lost, and this book collects all of his surviving letters, drawn together from archives and private collections, together with photographs of the locations he travelled through. This edition, with an afterword and notes by the book's translator/editor, Stephen Barber, marks the seventieth anniversary of Artaud's death.

Genres: Philosophy, France

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2018

About the author

French surrealist poet and playwright Antonin Artaud advocated a deliberately shocking and confrontational style of drama that he called "theater of cruelty."

People better knew Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, an essayist, actor, and director.

Considered among the most influential figures in the evolution of modern theory, Antonin Artaud associated with artists and experimental groups in Paris during the 1920s.

Political differences then resulted in him breaking and founding the theatre Alfred Jarry with Roger Vitrac and Robert Aron. Together, they expected to create a forum for works to change radically. Artaud especially expressed disdain for west of the day, panned the ordered plot and scripted language that his contemporaries typically employed to convey ideas, and recorded his ideas in such works as Le Theatre de la cruaute and The Theatre and Its Double .

Artaud thought to represent reality and to affect the much possible audience and therefore used a mixture of strange and disturbing forms of lighting, sound, and other performance elements.

Artaud wanted that the "spectacle" that "engulfed and physically affected" this audience, put in the middle. He referred to this layout like a "vortex," a "trapped and powerless" constantly shifting shape.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Through my parent's world, the face of Antonin Artaud was very much part of my landscape. In my dad's studio or workspace, there were usually photos of Artaud taped to the wall. His face was beyond handsome to me. Almost beautiful, but with disturbing touches of his mental illness, he was the poster icon for those who were insane and highly creative. If the punk world had Syd Vicious, and the 90s had Kurt Cobain, then Artaud was a figure of revolt, but in a solemn manner. He was an actor, poet, theater fellow, but he did his uncompromising work, and maybe even impossible to follow through. Still, Artaud's essays on the theater, peyote, cultural studies and his inner pain are something that speaks to those who are out of the world. Perhaps even more important, those who wish to remove themselves from such a (so-called) sane world.

In a state of insane mania, Artaud went to Ireland in the year 1937. Without money or a specific plan, he became the village idiot, with his cane, who he felt it belong once to Saint Patrick. "Artaud 1937 Apocalypse" is a small book of his correspondence to 'friends' in France, that even to this day, is a frightening read. The difference from hearing someone ranting on the street, and reading these letters, is Artaud's poetic vision. A superb stylist, even when he's on the brink of total mental collapse.

I can imagine being Andre Breton (some of the letters were sent to him) and be either amused or read with horror. Still, what is painful to understand is the raw emotional state of Artaud's mind. Stephen Barber did a remarkable translation, and his afterword is excellent as well. Artaud believed in apocalypse scenes. In truth, as he was put in a mental hospital in Paris, during the occupation and World War II, perhaps his visions were actual projections of things to come. A remarkable little book.

[Daniele Santagiuliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of Artaud written and graphic oeuvre. He proved that it was possible for all us lunatics to take over the asylum and write our own story.

This man went through some painful moments of transformation in his life and documented it relentlessly. One of the most famous is captured here.

Because, as every Artaud reader knows, what we all know is that there was a BEFORE and an AFTER - and the obscure facts of Dublin in between, which transformed the man forever.

Thanks to Infinity Land Press, Martin Bladh and Karolina Urbaniak, these moments finally are collected in a wonderful volume, a must-have.

Beautifully packaged, it shows some perspective and light in an otherwise obscure but fundamental period of transition of one of the greatest and most lucid minds of his times.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This isn’t even the Artaud book I read but they don’t have it on Goodreads “the new revelations of being”

“The New Revelations of Being & Other Mystical Writings includes a selection of texts and letters written by Antonin Artaud from 1933 to 1937 which explore astrology, alchemy, oriental philosophies, Christian ritual and magic, the Tarot, and the civilizations of India and Mexico. “ - infinity land press

I put 5 because it was what I needed to read on my flight home from France where I lived in a medieval village and studied theater that had some inspirations from Artaud.

Lunatics man. Artists. Makes me just want to be an engineer

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brief collection of Artaud’s letters provide a fascinating portrait of an artist’s mental and emotional breakdown. Beautifully packaged with pictures of Ireland and a wealth of informative supplemental material, this is a great collection of Artaud’s correspondence.

[Anastassia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chance of viewing the process of how one's mind can corrupt and become insane.

[Zungyue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lunatic actor preaching about the coming apocalypse in 1937. Can relate

[Stijn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een apocalyptische taal die niet te evenaren is.

[KHLOARIS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chronology of events leading up to Antonin Artaud’s capture and incarceration.

Having just returned from his Mexican vision quest we find Artaud back in his natural habit Paris cafes. But he is not the same. Its 1937, and he is consumed with apocalyptic dread for humanity’s future. WW2 is about to spark, and yet he cannot find anyone concerned. So Artaud resorts to spellcraft and threats of violence. But his friends all ignore him and so Artaud embarks upon a solo spiritual journey to a remote corner of Ireland bearing a mysterious wooden staff purported to be an artifact of Jesus Christ. Why on earth did this fragile genius want to return Jesus’ Bahall Isu staff to its birthplace? Of course you can always read the wiki, but then you’d be missing out on Artaud's radioactive prose.

This is a slim volume is comprised mostly of Artaud’s desperate pleas to his closest confidant: the two-faced Andre Breton. Carelessly filed away and left unread for the better part of a century, these letters are now finally assembled into a semi-coherent narrative. Missing bits have been fleshed out with historical and geographic details. This text is the culmination of Artaud’s deep anger towards humanity. It was the last thing he wrote before getting 10 years of electro-shock abuse at the hands of Nazi psyche wardens. There is a syphilitic assassin holding a dagger to your throat.