Blows and Bombs : Antonin Artaud: The Biography

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: After reading this my first thought was: "Well, maybe some day they really will come out with a definitive biography of Artaud."
Antonin Artaud, the enigmatic and crazed King of Modern Poetry, is ripe for a huge biography detailing his childhood, the intricacies of his tremendous psychological difficulties, his revolutionary approach to theatre, etc. Maybe Barber does his best with the nearly incomprehensible subject he chose--blurbs about his drug use, his migraine filled childhood, and the standard boring crap about his disagreements with and eventual expulsion from the surrealist movement. The analysis of his 'poetry' is pedestrian, nothing special. I gave it three stars because there are some amusing stories and hitherto untold tales about Artaud's bizarre exploits toward the end of his life. All in all, though, a disappointment.

Rating:
Summary: Mediocre
Review: After reading this my first thought was: "Well, maybe some day they really will come out with a definitive biography of Artaud."
Antonin Artaud, the enigmatic and crazed King of Modern Poetry, is ripe for a huge biography detailing his childhood, the intricacies of his tremendous psychological difficulties, his revolutionary approach to theatre, etc. Maybe Barber does his best with the nearly incomprehensible subject he chose--blurbs about his drug use, his migraine filled childhood, and the standard boring crap about his disagreements with and eventual expulsion from the surrealist movement. The analysis of his 'poetry' is pedestrian, nothing special. I gave it three stars because there are some amusing stories and hitherto untold tales about Artaud's bizarre exploits toward the end of his life. All in all, though, a disappointment.