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Twelve of the Fifty-One Shocks of Antonin Artaud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Nigel Ward
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Abstract

In ‘Artaud at Rodez’, published in the sixth issue of the original Theatre Quarterly, Charles Marowitz pursued an investigation into the nature of the alleged madness of Antonin Artaud, for which he was confined during the Second World War – eventually being transferred to the asylum at Rodez where he was subjected to electric shock ‘therapy’. Marowitz's article, which later formed the basis for his play of the same title, explored the motivations and responses of those involved: here, Nigel Ward focuses rather on the nature and effects of the treatment itself, inflicted on Artaud no less than fifty-one times – a treatment which, however controversial, was ironically appropriate for the creator of a ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ which itself claimed to purge its audience of weaknesses and to heal through shock. Nigel Ward is a tutor on the MA in Performance Studies course at the Central School of Speech and Drama.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , May 1999 , pp. 123 - 130
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

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References

Notes and References

1. Artaud, Antonin, Oeuvres Complètes, I-XXVI, ed. Thévenin, Paule (Paris, 1956–), Vol. XIII, p. 103Google Scholar.

2. Artaud, Antonin, The Theatre and its Double (London, 1977), p. 60Google Scholar.

3. Ferdière, Gaston, cit. de Mèredieu, Florence, Sur l'electroshock: le cas Antonin Artaud (Paris, 1996), p. 115–16Google Scholar.

4. Artaud, The Theatre and its Double, p. 21.

5. Ibid., p. 22.

6. Ibid., p. 22.

7. Ibid., p. 16.

8. Artaud, Antonin, L'Arve et l'aume suivi de 24 letters à Marc Barbezat (Décines, 1989), p. 7Google Scholar.

9. Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and its Double, p. 60.

10. Jacques Latrémolière, cit. Florence de Mèredieu, Sur l'electroshock: le cas Antonin Artaud, p. 106–7.

11. Duqueker, Jean, cit. Barber, Stephen, Antonin Artaud: Blows and Bombs (London, 1993), p. 115Google Scholar.

12. Antonin Artaud, The Theatre and its Double, p. 89.

13. Antonin Artaud, cit. Stephen Barber, op. cit., p. 102.

14. Antonin Artaud, Oeuvres Complètes, XXVI, p. 123.

15. R. D. Laing, cit. John Clay, R. D. Laing: a Divided Self, p. 48.

16. Antonin Artaud, cit. John Clay, op. cit., p. 30.

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19. Isou, Isidore, Antonin Artaud torturé par les psychiatres (Paris, 1970), p. 141Google Scholar.

20. Artaud, Antonin, Nouveaux écrits de Rodez (Paris, 1977), p. 40Google Scholar.

21. Antonin Artaud, cit. Stephen Barber, op. cit., p. 160.