Antonin Artaud and the Healing Practices of Language

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.

Joeri Visser is interested in French philosophy, literature, and religion and writes on authors like Antonin Artaud, Joë Bousquet, and Roger Gilbert-Lecomte. He has been a lecturer at Utrecht University where he also obtained a PhD on the later writings of Antonin Artaud. He has furthermore published translations of articles from Michel Serres.

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