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

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, 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 to a wealthy Armenian 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 French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

as his primary language. In 1924, when he was sixteen years old, he moved to Paris.^:93 There he met artists associated with the

Surrealist Movement Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

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

Postwar career

He began to write plays at the end of World War II.^:98 ''

La Parodie LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'' (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

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

and August Strindberg,^:98 is often dream-like and later works in particular have a political element. 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 A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admin ...

. This particular play was directly influenced by a dream Adamov had. Lesser known to the public is his prose work with short stories like ''Fin Août'' (in ''Je... Ils...'', 1969). Their themes revolve around topics like masochism, which the author regarded as "immunisation against death". Adamov translated a number of works by German authors (

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogni ...

, Büchner) and Russian classics ( Gogol, Chekhov) into French. The Algerian war radicalised his political views and in the 1960s he became a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

. 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, smoothies a ...

and use drugs. Adamov's death in 1970 was due to an overdose of

barbiturates Barbiturates are a class of depressant drugs that are chemically derived from barbituric acid. They are effective when used medically as anxiolytics, hypnotics, and anticonvulsants, but have physical and psychological addiction potential as ...

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