Arthur Adamov (23 August 1908 â€" 15 March 1970) was a playwright, one
of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd.[1][2]Adamov
(originally Adamian) was born in Kislovodsk in the Terek Oblast of the
Russian Empire to a wealthy Armenian family,[3] which lost its wealth
in 1917. In common with many other wealthy Russians of the time,
Adamov was brought up with French as his first language, and in 1924
he moved to Paris.In Paris Adamov met surrealists and edited the
surrealist journal Discontinuité. He began to write plays after World
War II, with La Parodie (1947) being his first. His work, influenced
by Bertolt Brecht, is often dream-like and later works in particular
have a political element. The title character of one of his best known
works, Le Professeur Taranne (1953), is accused of various things
(public nudity, littering, plagiarism), 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 like Fin Août (in Je... Ils..., 1969). Their themes
revolve around topics like masochism, which the author regarded as
"immunisation against death". Adamov translated a number of works by
German authors (Rilke, Büchner) and Russian classics (Gogol, Chekhov)
into French.The Algerian war radicalised his political views and in
the 1960s he became a Communist.[4]
of the foremost exponents of the Theatre of the Absurd.[1][2]Adamov
(originally Adamian) was born in Kislovodsk in the Terek Oblast of the
Russian Empire to a wealthy Armenian family,[3] which lost its wealth
in 1917. In common with many other wealthy Russians of the time,
Adamov was brought up with French as his first language, and in 1924
he moved to Paris.In Paris Adamov met surrealists and edited the
surrealist journal Discontinuité. He began to write plays after World
War II, with La Parodie (1947) being his first. His work, influenced
by Bertolt Brecht, is often dream-like and later works in particular
have a political element. The title character of one of his best known
works, Le Professeur Taranne (1953), is accused of various things
(public nudity, littering, plagiarism), 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 like Fin Août (in Je... Ils..., 1969). Their themes
revolve around topics like masochism, which the author regarded as
"immunisation against death". Adamov translated a number of works by
German authors (Rilke, Büchner) and Russian classics (Gogol, Chekhov)
into French.The Algerian war radicalised his political views and in
the 1960s he became a Communist.[4]
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