Arthur Adamov


Arthur Adamov was a playwright, one of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd.

Early life

Adamov 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 as his primary language. In 1924, when he was sixteen years old, he moved to Paris, France.:93 There he met artists associated with the Surrealist Movement and edited the surrealist journal Discontinuité.:93

Postwar career

He began to write plays at the end of World War II.:98 La Parodie 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 August Strindberg,:98 is often dream-like and later works in particular have a political element influenced by Bertolt Brecht. The title character of one of his best known works, Le Professeur Taranne, is accused of various things, all of which he strenuously denies, only to have his denials turned against him into more evidence of misdemeanours. This particular play was directly influenced by a dream Adamov had.
Lesser known to the public is his prose work with short stories such as "Fin Août". Their themes revolve around topics including masochism, which the author regarded as "immunisation against death". Adamov translated a number of works by German authors and Russian classics into French.
A supporter of left-wing politics throughout his life, the Algerian War radicalised his political views and in the 1960s he became a Communist. During his later years, he began to drink and use drugs which severely impacted his health.
Adamov's death in 1970 was due to an overdose of barbiturates.

Selected works

  • L'Aveu
  • La Parodie
  • L'Invasion
  • La Grande et la Petite Manoeuvre
  • Le Sens de la Marche
  • Tous contre tous
  • Le Professeur Taranne
  • Le Ping-Pong
  • Paolo Paoli
  • Le Printemps '71
  • La Politique des Restes
  • Ici et Maintenant
  • Sainte Europe
  • M. le Modéré
  • Off Limits
  • ''Si l'été revenait''