Arthur Adamov

Arthur Adamov, real name Arthur Adamian (Kislovodsk, Russian Empire, August 23, 1908 – Paris, France, March 15, 1970) was a French playwright of Armenian origin, one of the most outstanding exponents of the theater of the absurd.

Trajectory

Adamov was born in Russia, the son of a well-to-do family that had fallen into disrepair in 1917, and emigrated after the revolution to Switzerland and then to Germany. In common with many other Russian authors of the time who had potential, Adamov was raised with French as his first language and studied in Switzerland and Germany.

In 1924, Adamov moved to Paris, where he would live for life. He became acquainted with the surrealist circle and published the surrealist newspaper Discontinuité. An admirer of Kafka and Strindberg, he was also a great friend and defender of Artaud. He had ongoing contact with the prominent French critic Marthe Robert and her husband, the writer and future psychoanalyst Michel M & # 39; Uzan.

In 1946, Adamov, together with Marthe Robert, managed to get Antonin Artaud out of the Rodez asylum, and find him a way of maintenance, after successfully appealing to a large number of writers, philosophers and artists, from Giacometti and Picasso to Sartre.

He began writing drama after World War II; La parodie (1947) was his first film. This work, which already shows the influence of Bertolt Brecht, is often oneiric, but in a second phase Adamov leaned towards a theater of social concern, so that his later works are distinguished by incorporating political elements, in a never sectarian way..

The titular character of one of his best-known works, Le Professor Taranne (1953), was accused of various infractions (inhibitionism, littering in the street, literary plagiarism) that he categorically denied, only for his denials to become in more evidence that he breaks the rules. This work, in particular, is marked by the direct influence of a dream that Adamov had.

His Memoirs are an impressive document of the stark sincerity of this writer, who felt rather on the margins. Adamov, who had always felt a deep sadness, committed suicide in 1970 in Paris.

His work, today unjustly forgotten, was widely translated into Spanish, especially in theater collections.

Plays

• L'aveu1938, dramatic confession of his psychic unrest, which will be prolonged in his Memories.
• The Parodie (1947). The parody.
• L'Invasion (1950). The invasion.
• La Grande et la Petite Manoeuvre (1950). The big and the little maneuver.
• Le Sens de la Marche (1953).
• Tous contre tous (1953). All against all.
• Le Professeur Taranne (1953). Professor Taranne.
• Le Ping-Pong (1955). Ping Pong.
• Paolo Paoli (1957)
• Le Printemps '71 (1961). Spring of 71, Losada, 1965; about the commune of Paris.
• Le Politique des Restes (1963). Waste policyPapers for dialogue.
• Ici et Maintenant (1964).
• Sainte Europe (1966). Holy EuropePapers for dialogue.
• M. le Modéré (1968). Moderate DonNotebooks for dialogue, 1970
• Off Limits (1969). Off limitsNotebooks for dialogue, 1970.
• If I was revenait
• Dead soulsJournals for dialogue, 1976; adaptation of Gogol