rather than win the hearts of scholars, i wish to relate to you the mind-lowing experience the writing of antonin artaud… rather than hard facts i shall give you this somewhat poetic account of my reading of and investigation into artaud’s works:
when i read antonin artaud, i enter this special region within my mind… like an entrance into the halls of madness… artaud’s writing is deep, it cuts, it swerves, it swirls…
artaud was accused of being a madman, but when i read artaud i wonder if those who are typical or normal are really the mad ones… artaud was “mad to live”…
his writing hits you, it digs down to the very bone, the very fabric of one’s consciousness…
artaud wished to do away with tradition, to be freed of the hand that feeds and go off on his own, a journey that never ended… artaud, i believe, wants the reader to understand him, whilst a.a. is trying so desperately to understand himself..
his writing is not simple, in fact, it is very painful to read the excruciating details of his despair… but i really must understand, i must, his writing is like no other writing i’ve ever read…
it has been said that artaud never edited a single word he wrote, how spontaneous! upon investigation unto the furthest limits of his poems, prose, and manifestoes it is as if artaud is explaining every psychic disturbance happening during the creation and blooming of his writing…..
yesterday, i asked markk (member of Litkicks and also editor of the deep cleveland junkmail oracle) what he thought of artaud’s writing and markk responded: “he was the bukowski of his time” and i agree… it is no wonder to me that city lights should publish an anthology of his works, so fitting…
artaud was a rebel, a non-conventionalist who wished to reinvent himself and break with a cruel past… but now, dear readers i’ll leave it up to you from here on out…. read him and you shall find out this mysterious poetic alchemy of which i speak….
Suggested Reading:
The Theatre and It’s Double available through Grove Press
The Artaud Anthology available through City Lights Publishers
Watchtower Fiends and Rack Screams available through Exact Change Press (the introduction written by poet Clayton Eschelman is AMAZING).
