Julien Torma (Cambrai, 6 April 1902 – Tyrol, 17 February 1933) was credited as a French writer, playwright and poet who was part of the

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ist movement. Torma disappeared in the mountains of the

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

at the age of 30. Due to his secretive behaviour and the impossibility of verifying the supposed details of his life (i.e. no living or known family members and every writer he supposedly knew having died long before the publication of his posthumous books – if they are by the author of the early books, no professional career,

no fixed address In law, no fixed abode or without fixed abode is not having a fixed geographical location as a residence, commonly referred to as no fixed address. This is applicable to several groups: * People who have a home, but which is not always in the ...

, his body having never been recovered, etc.), it has been suggested by some, including Jean-François Jeandillou, that Torma's existence may be fictitious.Michel Corvin. ''Essai d'interprétation d'une mystification Littéraire''. His purported birthday, 6 April, is marked as "the birthday of

pataphysics 'Pataphysics () is a sardonic "philosophy of science" invented by French writer Alfred Jarry (1873–1907) intended to be a parody of science. Difficult to be simply defined or pinned down, it has been described as the "science of imaginary solu ...

" in the "pataphysics calendar". The real writer who authored the first four publications and ''Porte battantes'' would have had to be using a

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

, as, according to the French institute for statistics INSEE, only three Torma births have been recorded in France since 1891, all between 1941 and 1965.

Publications

* ''The Obscure Lamp'' (1919) * ''The Big Troche'' (1925) * ''Cuts'' (1926) * ''Euphorisms'' (1926)

Posthumous publications

* ''Lebordelamer'' (1955) * ''Le Bétrou'' (1955) * ''Porte Battante'' (1963) * ''Grabuge'' (1998) * ''Definitively incomplete writings'' (2003)

Notes

References

* ''4 Dada Suicides: Selected Texts of Arthur Cravan, Jacques Rigaut, Julien Torma & Jacques Vache'' (''Anti-Classics of Dada'') by Torma, Jacques Rigaut, Jacques Vache, and

Arthur Cravan Arthur Cravan (born Fabian Avenarius Lloyd; 22 May 1887 – disappeared 1918) was a Swiss writer, poet, artist and boxer. He was the second son of Otho Holland Lloyd and Hélène Clara St. Clair. His brother Otho Lloyd was a painter and photo ...

. Edited by Roger Conover, Terry J. Hale, Paul Lenti and Iain White. (1995)

Atlas Press Atlas Press began publishing in 1983, and specialises in extremist and avant-garde prose writing from the 1890s to the present day. It is the largest publisher in English of books on Surrealism and has an extensive list relating to Dada, Surreal ...

;
Julien Torma in Paris
1902 births 1930s missing person cases 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French poets Dada French male poets Missing person cases in Austria Pataphysicians Year of death unknown {{France-poet-stub

Publications

Posthumous publications

See also

Notes

References