A Sinister Assassin - Last Writings, Ivry-Sur-Seine, September 1947 to March 1948

A Sinister Assassin is a book that includes original translations of Antonin Artaud's last writings and interviews, many of which have never been published in English before. It presents Artaud's largely unknown final work from 1947–48, revealing his obsessions with human anatomy, sexuality, societal power, creativity, and ill-will. The book assembles Artaud's crucial writings and press interviews from a decrepit pavilion in Ivry-sur-Seine, Paris, and includes manuscripts and original interviews with his friends, collaborators, and doctors. It illuminates Artaud's final, most intensive, and terminal work for the first time, edited, translated, and with an introduction by Stephen Barber.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 120 pages
Publication date: 19 April 2023
Publisher: Diaphanes AG

A Sinister Assassin is a remarkable collection that offers original translations of Antonin Artaud's final writings and interviews, many of which have never been previously available in English. This book provides a unique insight into the late artist's obsessions, ranging from human anatomy and sexuality to societal power and creativity. Artaud's final conception of performance is a dance-propelled act of autopsy, aimed at generating a "body without organs" that negates malevolent microbial epidemics.

The book assembles Artaud's crucial writings and press interviews from September 1947 to March 1948, conducted at a decrepit pavilion in the grounds of a convalescence clinic in Ivry-sur-Seine, on the southern edge of Paris. It also draws extensively on Artaud's manuscripts and original interviews with his friends, collaborators, and doctors throughout the 1940s, illuminating the many manifestations of Artaud's final writings. These include the contents of his last, death-interrupted notebook, letters, two final key texts, glossolalia, a magazine issue that collected his last fragments, and two extraordinary interviews he gave to national newspaper journalists in the final days of his life, in which he denounces and refuses both his works recent censorship and his imminent death.

Edited, translated, and with an introduction by Stephen Barber, A Sinister Assassin illuminates Artaud's last, most intensive, and terminal work for the first time. This collection is a valuable addition to Artaud studies and provides a deeper understanding of the artist's complex and enigmatic legacy.

Weight: 172g
Dimension: 120 x 191 x 13 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783035803563