Antonin Artaud and the Healing Practices of Language : How Life Matters in Artaud’s Later Writings

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. Cover Contents Notes on the Translation and the Abbreviations Avant-Propos: Writing for a People to Come. Or, Looking for an Intercessor Introduction: Artaud—A Life in Language. Or What Comes with Language? The Enchantment of Marseille A Violent Loss of Life Reading the Writings of a Madman Still Relevant Forces at Work 1 The Healing Practices of Language: On Flesh, Mind, and Expression Do We Know What the Body Can Do? Articulating the Flexional Singularity of the Body To Believe in This World The Dance of the Flesh The Articulation of a Vital Body The Exploration of the Infra-Sense of the Body The Vitality of the Flesh A Commitment to Life The Healing Powers of the Flesh In Praise of a Madman An Enterprise of Health 2 A Zoology of Language: On the Disorder of Language and Artaud’s Poetics The Outside of Language A Cynical Reading of Spinoza Spinoza’s Confusion The Forces of Zoe Destratification and the Art of Caution To Believe in Grammar A Zoology of Language Untranslatable Forces To Have Done with Mythomania Artaud Poetics: The Creation of Animated Words A New Human Agony “Only the Madman Is Really Calm” 3 A Magical and Materialist Theosophy: On the Development of Artaud’s Later Works The Man Crucified on Golgotha “I Have to Laugh When You Talk about His Message” Artaud in the Land of the Tarahumaras Our Advanced Civilization and the Searchof an Organic Culture Expressing the Mexican Discoveries Violating the Art of Caution A Sense of Persecution and Megalomania A New Religion The Healing Powers of Magic A Magical and Materialist Theosophy “Man Will Find Nothing in Artaud’s Work” 4 The Writing of Cruelty: On the Artof Crescive Writing Artaud’s Return to Paris “I Ended Up Hanging/a Door in Language” The Theater of Cruelty and Language An Impossible Theater Cruelty as Necessity and Life Cruelty as a Healing Practice A Concrete and Physical Language The Writing of Cruelty I: From a Mechanized Anatomyto a Machinic Anatomy The Writing of Cruelty II: The True Story of Jesus Christ The Writing of Cruelty III: The Laboratory of Life Practices of Creative Writing Practices of Performative Writing Practices of Asemic Writing The Art of Crescive Writing “[Life] Is Only Worthy/to the Extent/ That It Changes” Conclusion:Toward a Postsecular Religion of Language.Or, etc., etc. A Treatment of Auto-Detoxification The Contract with Nature To Believe in the Flesh A Postsecular Society of Immanence A Postsecular Religion of Language Postscriptum:Reading Artaud Today. Or, a Plea for a Language in Movement References Index "The life of Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) was tormented by physical and mental illnesses. In his earlier writings, 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 Artaud's engagement with a healing language in his later works. Joeri Visser guides us through the years in which Artaud suffered more and more 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."-- Provided by publisher Notes On The Translation And The Abbreviations -- Avant-Propos: Writing For A People To Come. Or, Looking For An Intercessor -- Introduction: 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