Arthur Adamov (23 August 1908 – 15 March 1970) was a

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

, one of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd.

Early life

Adamov (originally Adamian) was born in Kislovodsk in the Terek Oblast of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

to a wealthy

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

family.^:92 At the outbreak of the First World War, the family was at risk of being interned as "enemy citizens", and only "through the special intervention of the King of Wurttemberg" were they able to escape to Geneva, Switzerland.^:93 Adamov was educated in Switzerland and Germany,^:93 with French as his primary language. In 1924, when he was sixteen years old, he moved to Paris, France.^:93 There he met artists associated with the

Surrealist Movement Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and edited the surrealist journal '' Discontinuité''.^:93

Postwar career

He began to write plays at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.^:98 '' La Parodie'' (1947) was his first play, which Martin Esslin has identified as "an attempt to come to terms with neurosis, to make psychological states visible in concrete terms".^:98 His work influenced by August Strindberg,^:98 is often

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

-like and later works in particular have a

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

element influenced by

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

. The title character of one of his best known works, '' Le Professeur Taranne'' (1953), is accused of various things (public nudity, littering, plagiarism), all of which he strenuously denies, only to have his denials turned against him into more evidence of misdemeanours. This particular play was directly influenced by a dream Adamov had. Lesser known to the public is his prose work with short stories such as "Fin Août" (in ''Je... Ils...'', 1969). Their themes revolve around topics including masochism, which the author regarded as "immunisation against death". Adamov translated a number of works by German authors ( Rilke, Büchner) and Russian classics (

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works " The Nose", " Viy", "The Overcoat", and " Nevsky Prosp ...

, Chekhov) into French. A supporter of left-wing politics throughout his life, the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

radicalised his political views and in the 1960s he became a

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

. During his later years, he began to

drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...

and use drugs which severely impacted his health. Adamov's death in 1970 was due to an overdose of barbiturates.Banarjee, R. B., "The Theatre of the Absurd", in ''Literary Criterion'', Vol. 7, No. 1, 1965, pp. 59–62.

Selected works

* ''L'Aveu'' (''The Confession'', 1946) * ''La Parodie'' (''The Parody'', 1950) * ''L'Invasion'' (''The Invasion'', 1950) * ''La Grande et la Petite Manoeuvre'' (''The Grand and Small Manoeuvre'', 1950) * ''Le Sens de la Marche'' (''The Way to Go'', 1953) * ''Tous contre tous'' (''All against all'', 1953) * ''Le Professeur Taranne'' (''Professor Taranne'', 1953) * ''Le Ping-Pong'' (''Ping Pong'', 1955) * ''Paolo Paoli'' (1957) * ''Le Printemps '71'' (''Spring '71'', 1960) * ''La Politique des Restes'' (The Politics of Rubbish'', 1963) * ''Ici et Maintenant'' (''Here and Now'', 1964) * ''Sainte Europe'' (''Holy Europe'', 1966) * ''M. le Modéré'' (''Mr. Moderate'', 1968) * ''Off Limits'' (1969) * ''Si l'été revenait'' (''If Summer Came Again'', 1970)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adamov, Arthur 1908 births 1970 deaths 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century translators 1970 suicides Burials at Ivry Cemetery Drug-related deaths in France French people of Armenian descent People from Kislovodsk People from Terek Oblast Russian people of Armenian descent Russian–French translators Soviet Armenians Soviet emigrants to France Theatre of the Absurd