Antonin Artaud

A revolutionary figure in the literary avant-garde of his time, Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) is now seen to be central to the development of post-modernism. His writings comprise verse, prose poems, film scenarios, a historical novel, plays, essays on film, theater, art, and literature, and many letters. Susan Sontag's selection conveys the genius of this singular writer.

Susan Sontag (1933-2004) studied at the universities of Chicago, Harvard and Oxford. She was the author of four novels, a collection of stories, several plays, and six books of essays, among them Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and Its Metaphors. Her books are translated into thirty-two languages. In 2001 she was awarded the Jerusalem Prize for the body of her work, and in 2003 she received the Prince of Asturias Prize for Literature and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. 

Artaud
AN ESSAY BY Susan Sontag

I Five early poems
"THE MYSTIC SHIP" (1913)
"VERLAINE DRINKS" ( 1921)
"BLACK GARDEN" (1921/1922)
"THE Poem oF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI"
(1922)
"Love" (1923)

II Two early essays
"THE DEPARTMENT STORE POISON"
(UNDATED)
"PICTORIAL VALUES AND THE LOUVRE"
(1921)

III Letters from 1921-23
TO MADAME TOULOUSE (LATE JULY 1921)
TO MAX JACOB (OCTOBER 1921)
TO YVONNE GILLES (OCTOBER 1921)
TO YVONNE GILLES (JUNE 1922)
TO GENICA ATHANASIOU (AUGUST 17,
1922)
TO YVONNE GILLES (NOVEMBER 1922)
TO GENICA ATHANASIOU (MAY 6, 1923)
TO GENICA ATHANASIOU (OCTOBER 24,
1923)

IV From Bilboquet (1923)
"THERE AREN'T ENOUGH MAGAZINES...
"RIMBAUD & THE MODERNs"
"A MENTAL PAINTER"

V Correspondence with Jacques Riviere
(1923-24)

VI Two essays from 1924
"THE EVOLUTION OF DECOR"
"Picasso Exhibit"

VII The Umbilicus of Limbo (1925)
"WHERE OTHERS PRESENT THEIR
WORKS..."
"A GREAT FERVOR..."
"WITH ME GOD-THE-HOUND...(Poem)
LETTER TO A DOCTOR
"PAUL THE BIRDS"
LETTER
"DESCRIPTION OF A PHYSICAL STATE"
"A SLENDER BELLY..."
"DARK POET" (POEM)
"LETTER TO THE LEGISLATOR OF THE
LAW ON NARCOTICS"
"THE POETS LIFT UP HANDS..." (POEM)
"THERE IS AN ACID AND MURKY
ANGUISH..."
"THE SPURT OF BLOOD" (PLAY)

VIII From The Nerve Meter (1925)
"I REALLY FELT..."
"AN ACTOR IS SEEN...""
"I HAVE ASPIRED NO FURTHER...""
"IN SLEEP..."
"IT MUST BE UNDERSTOOD..."
"TO FIND ONESELF AGAIN..."
"TO THINK WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST
BREAKING OFF..."
"A KIND OF CONSTANT LEAKAGE...""
"UNDER THIS CRUST OF SKIN AND
BONE..."
"A POWERLESSNESS..."
"WHAT IS DIFFICULT...""
"DO YOU KNOW..."
LETTER
"HERE IS SOMEONE..."
"I AM AN IDIOT..."
"IF ONLY ONE COULD..."
"WHAT I LACK..."
"ALL WRITING IS GARBAGE..."

IX Fragments of a Diary from Hell (1925)

X More prose texts from 1925
"GENERAL SECURITY: THE LIQUIDATION
OF OPIUM"
"INQUIRY... Is Suicide a
Solution?"
"DINNER IS SERVED"
"LETTER TO THE BUDDHIST SCHOOLS"
"THE ACTIVITY OF THE SURREALIST
RESEARCH BUREAU"
"MANIFESTO IN CLEAR LANGUAGE"
"SITUATION OF THE FLESH"

XI Eighteen Seconds, a screenplay
(1925-26)

XII From Art ond Deoth (1925-27)
"WHO, IN THE DEPTHS ••• " (PROBABLY
1927)
"LETTER TO THE CLAIRVOYANT" (1926)
"HELOISE AND ABELARD" (1925)
"CLEAR ABELARD" (1927)
"UCCELLO THE HAIR" (1926)

XIII "In Total Darkness, or
The Surrealist Bluff" (1927)

XIV On The Seashell ond the Clergyman
"CINEMA AND ABSTRACTION" (1927)
"CINEMA AND REALITY" (1927)

XV On the Alfred ..Jarry Theater
"THE ALFRED ]ARRY THEATER" (1926)
"ALFRED JARRY THEATER. FIRST
SEASON: 1926-27" (1926)
"MANIFESTO FOR A THEATER THAT
FAILED" (1926/1927)
"STRINDBERG's DREAM PLAY" (1928)

XVI Letters from 1927-30
TO GENICA ATHANASIOU (SEPTEMBER 16,
1927)
TO ABEL GANCE (NOVEMBER 27, 1927)
TO RENE ALLENDY (NOVEMBER 30, 1927)
TO YVONNE ALLENDY (JUNE 7, 1928)
TO YVONNE ALLENDY (MARCH 26, 1929)
TO YVONNE ALLENDY (JUNE 5, 1930)
TO RENE ALLENDY (JULY 12, 1930)

XVII Questions and answers on the cinema
"REPLY TO A QUESTIONNAIRE"
(UNDATED)
INTERVIEW FOR CINEMONDE (1929)

XVIII Excerpts from notebooks
and private papers (1931-32)

XIX Letters from 1931
INCOMPLETE DRAFT OF A LETTER,
ADDRESSEE UNKNOWN
TO LOUIS JOUVET (APRIL 15, 1931)
TO JEAN-RICHARD BLOCH (APRIL 23,
1931)
TO LOUIS JOUVET (APRIL 27, 1931)
DRAFT OF A LETTER TO
RENE DAUMAL (JULY 14, 1931)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (AUGUST 5, 1931)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (SEPTEMBER 23,
1931)
TO LOUIS JOUVET (OCTOBER 20, 1931)

XX For The Theater and Its Double
(1931-36)
"ON THE BALINESE THEATER" (1931)
"MISE EN SCENE AND METAPHYSICS"
(1932)
"THE MARX BROTHERS" (1932)
"THE THEATER OF CRUELTY:
FIRST MANIFESTO" (1932)
"AN END TO MASTERPIECES" (1933)
"AN EMOTIONAL ATHLETICISM" (1935)
"ORIENTAL THEATER AND
WESTERN THEATER" (1935)
"THE THEATER OF THE SERAPHIM" (1936)

XXI Letters from 1932-33
TO JEAN PAULHAN (JANUARY 22, 1932)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (JANUARY 30, 1932)
TO GEORGE SOULIE DE MORANT
(FEBRUARY 17, 1932)
TO GEORGE SOULIE DE MORANT
(FEBRUARY 19, 1932)
TO LOUIS JOUVET (MARCH 1, 1932)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (AUGUST 3, 1932)
TO ANDRE GIDE (AUGUST 7, 1932)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (AUGUST 23, 1932)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (SEPTEMBER 12,
1932)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (NOVEMBER 27, 1932)
TO JEAN PAULHAN (DECEMBER 16, 1932)
TO ANAIS NIN (APRIL 1933)

XXII "The Premature Old Age of the Cinema"
(1933)

XXIII From Heliogabalus, or The Anarchist
Crowned (1934)

XXIV Letters and drafts from 1934-35
TO JEAN PAULHAN (JUNE 1, 1934)
"APPEAL TO YOUTH: INTOXICATION:
DISINTOXICATION" (LATE 1934)
TO ANDRE GIDE (FEBRUARY 10, 1935)
TO JEAN-LOUIS BARRAULT (JUNE 14, 1935)
DRAFT OF A LETTER TO THE
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF
WRITERS FOR THE DEFENSE OF
CULTURE (LATE JUNE 1935)
DRAFT OF A LETTER TO THE DIRECTOR OF
THE ALLIANCE FRAN«;AISE (DECEMBER 14, 1935)

XXV Excerpts from notebooks
and private papers (1935)

XXVI The trip to Mexieo ( 1936)
"MAN AGAINST DESTINY"
LETTER TO JEAN PAULHAN (MARCH 26, 1936)
"FIRST CoNTACT WITH THE MEXICAN
REVOLUTION"
"WHAT I CAME TO MEXICO TO DO"
LETTER TO JEAN-LOUIS BARRAULT
(JULY 10, 1936)

XXVII From A Voyage to the Land of the
Tarahumara
"THE MOUNTAIN OF SIGNs" (1936) 379
"THE PEYOTE DANCE" (LATE 1936 OR
EARLY 1937)

XXVIII Letters from 1937
TO CECILE SCHRAMI\IE (FEBRUARY 7,
1937)
TO CECILE SCHRAMME (FEBRUARY 19,
1937)
TO CECILE SCHRAMME (APRIL 16, 1937
TO CECILE SCHRAMME (APRIL 30, 1937)
TO RENE ALLENDY (JUNE 1937)
TO ANDRE BRETON (JULY 30, 1937)
TO ANNE MANSON (SEPTEMBER 8, 1937)
TO ANDRE BRETON (SEPTEMBER 14, 1937)

XXIX From The Netv Revelations of Being
(1937)

XXX (Letters from 1940 (Ville-Evrard)
TO GENICA ATHANASIOU (NOVEMBER 10,
1940)
TO GENICA ATHANASIOU (NOVEMBER 24,
1940)

XXXI Letters from 1943-45 (Rodez)
TO JACQUES LATREMOLIERE (MARCH 25,
1943)
TO GASTON FERDIERE (MARCH 29, 1943)
TO GASTON FERDIERE (OCTOBER 18,
1943)
TO GIIYSLAINE MALAUSSENA (JANUARY 9,
1944)
TO GASTON FERDIERE (FEBRUARY 5,
1944)
TO EUPHRASIE ARTAUD (JUNE 22, 1944)
TO JACQUES LATREMOLIERE (JANUARY 6,
1945)
TO MARIE·ANGE MALAUSSENA (JANUARY
30, 1945)
TO HENRI PARISOT (SEPTEMBER 7, 1945)
TO HENRI PARISOT (SEPTEMBER 17,
1945)
TO HENRI PARISOT (SEPTEMBER 20,
1945)
TO HENRI PARISOT (SEPTEMBER 22, 1945)
TO HENRI PARISOT (OCTOBER 6, 1945)
TO HENRI PARISOT (OCTOBER 9, 1945)
TO HENRI PARISOT (NOVEMBER 27, 1945)

XXXII Two letters from 1946
"LETTER ABOUT LAUTREAMONT"
LETTER TO HENRI PARISOT (NOVEMBER
17, 1946), KNOWN AS "COLERIDGE
THE TRAITOR"

XXXIII Van Gogh, the Man Suicided
by Society (1947)

XXXIV Letter to Pierre Loeb (April23, 1947)

XXXV From Artaud Le Momo (1947)
"THE RETURN oF ARTAUD, LE MOMO"
"INSANITY AND BLACK MAGIC"

XXXVI Indian Culture and Here Lies (1947)

XXXVII To Have Done with the Judgment of God,
a radio play (1947)

XXXVIII Last letters
TO FERNAND POUEY (DECEMBER 11,
1947)
TO FERNAND POUEY (JANUARY 16, 1943)
TO WLADDHR PORCHE (FEBRUARY 4,
1948)
TO FERNAND POUEY (FEBRUARY 7, 1948)
TO RENE GUILLY (FEBRUARY 7, 1948)
TO FERNAND POUEY AND RENE GUIGNARD
(FEBRUARY 17, 1948)
TO PAULE THEVENIN (FEBRUARY 24,
1948)

Writings about Artaud
Notes