French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Pascarel on Jarry's Ubu Roi, Ubu Cocu, etc. (Foliothèque)
Theatre and Performance

Barbara Pascarel, UBU ROI – UBU COCU – UBU ENCHAÎNÉ – UBU SUR LA BUTTE BY ALFRED JARRY (ESSAY AND FILE), Paris, Gallimard, coll. "Foliothèque" no. 158, 2008-10-23, 272 p.

ISBN 13 (EAN): 9782070337613.

€7.90

"A century after Alfred Jarry's death, Ubu Roi remains one of the most frequently performed French-language plays in the world. How can we define the specific nature of such a text within literary history, and how does it relate to the other works in the Ubu cycle? Its unique genesis provides one of the keys, as the first part of this essay demonstrates, 'Genesis of the Ubu Epic,' which highlights its kinship with other plays of the cycle originating from their school days."
Barbara Pascarel.

Alfred Jarry occupies a singular position in modern French literature and dramatic history, largely through the provocative legacy of his anti-hero Père Ubu. The broader tradition of avant-garde theatre, from the early modernist experiments of the late nineteenth century to the twentieth-century absurdists, frequently looks back to the anarchic spirit and stylistic subversions of Jarry's dramatic universe. Readers interested in French drama, late nineteenth-century literature, and the evolution of avant-garde theatrical performance may find this volume relevant to their study.