The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Play by Alfred Jarry, published and produced in 1896. The play was translated into English and published under a variety of titles. This grotesque farce about the monstrous Ubu, originally written as a parody of one of Jarry's teachers, swiftly turned into a satire of the French middle class. The title character, Pere Ubu, is a gluttonous, greedy, and cruel individual who slaughters the royal family of Poland in order to ascend to the throne. Ubu ultimately proves himself a coward when he is forced to do battle with the king of Poland's surviving son. The play's scatological references, pompous style, and bastardized French caused the audience to riot when it was first produced. It was later championed by the Surrealists and Dadaists in the 1920s, who recognized in Ubu roi the first absurdist drama. Jarry wrote several sequels, including Ubu enchaine (1900; "Ubu Bound") and Ubu cocu (1944; "Ubu Cuckolded"), which were translated and published with Ubu roi as The Ubu Plays (1968).
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Book Description
A stunning, controversial work that immediately outraged audiences with its scatological references during the 1896 premiere, the farce satirizes the tendency of the successful bourgeois to abuse his authority and become irresponsibly complacent. Championed by Dadaists and Surrealists as the first absurdist drama, Ubu Roi features a main character that is cruel, gluttonous, and grotesque--the author's metaphor for modern man.
