Antonin Artaud and The Healing Practices of Language

Description

The life of Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) was tormented by physical and mental illnesses. Already in his earlier works, Artaud tried to express his physical and mental suffering, but perceived, in describing his feelings, the obstructive and illness-inducing role of language. This is the first book written in English that analyses the role of a healing language with which Artaud engaged in his later writings.
Joeri Visser guides us through the years in which Artaud suffered increasingly from mental instability and considered the act of writing his only means of survival. In doing so, Visser unfolds a literary and a philosophical analysis of how language and life work together and how a creative play with language can help us to reengage sustainably with the joyous as well as the terrible forces of life.

Joeri Visser is Chairman of the French Department in secondary education at a school near Rotterdam. He has been a lecturer at Utrecht University where he also obtained a PhD on Artaud in 2019. He has written on French philosophy and literature, and published translations of articles from Michel Serres.

Notes On The Translation And The Abbreviations
Avant-Propos: Writing For A People To Come. Or, Looking For An IntercessorIntroduction: Artaud: A Life In Language: Or, What Comes With Language?
1. The Healing Practices Of Language: On Flesh, Mind And Expression
2. A Zoology Of Language: On The Disorder Of Language And Artaud’s Poetics
3. A Magical And Materialist Theosophy: On The Development Of Artaud’s Later Works
4. The Writing Of Cruelty: On The Art Of Crescive Writing
Conclusion: Toward A Postsecular Religion Of Language. Or, etc etc
Post-Scriptum: Reading Artaud Today. Or, A Plea For A Language In Movement
References
Original French Quotes From Artaud
Index

“Visser’s Deleuzian reading of Artaud’s late writings comes as a revelation. What might seem a madman’s ravings prove in Visser’s analysis to be profound meditations on the power of language to foster genuine thought and generate new relations between humans and the natural world. Visser argues that Artaud deploys a ‘zoological language,’ one that engages the life of zoe and thereby makes possible what Deleuze calls ‘belief in this world.’ This is an insightful, compelling and original study of signal importance.” —Ronald Bogue, Professor Emeritus, University of Georgia, USA“Visser’s analysis of Artaud’s religious preoccupations is a highly original, against-the-grain and even perverse one – and all the more persuasive and valuable for that.” —Stephen Barber, Professor of Art History, Kingston University, UK, and author of of Antonin Artaud: Blows and Bombs and translator of A Sinister Assassin: Artaud’s Last Writings“This original study opens illuminating perspectives on the life and work of the iconic yet controversial figure of Artaud. Adopting a materialist approach inspired by an affirmative ethics of becoming, Visser undoes the pathological readings of Artaud’s life and literature and contextualizes it within the fundamentally schizophrenic structure of capitalism. With emphasis on the concepts of immanence and vital matter, this remarkable book invites us to rediscover the infinite capacities of embodied subjects to recompose an active and joyous life, even through pain. A welcome antidote against the hardship and negativity of our times.” —Rosi Braidotti, Distinguished University Professor, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

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