Pathaphysics, the science of imaginary solutions, is a science made up by the writer Alfred Jarry. What may be a joke to some has become a life-time obsession for writers & artists such as Boris Vian, Raymond Queneau, Marcel Duchamp, John Cage and etc. & etc. In many ways its laughter, but taken on an almost (anti) spiritual level. If its a joke, it's a type of humor to convey the absurdity of 20th Century life.
René Daumal a sort of Surrealist (who refused to join up with Breton & Co) and a man devoted to the spiritual side of life. He wrote two wonderful books - "A Night of Serious Drinking" and "Mount Analogue." And also self-taught himself Sanskrit language. So here's a young man totally obsessed with the thought of death and what happens afterwards. In many ways, Daumal is the perfect card carrying member of Pataphysics - because as a science it is not really there, and what's there is a spiritual essence of what is not explained. Nor can it be explained. So in other words a perfect medium for the Poet!
The publisher Wakefield Press, is one of the great small presses out there right now. Beautifully designed, well thought out, and just brilliant.
.jpg)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment