Okay, So It’s No National Holiday

Happy birthday to Alfred Jarry, French author and playwright, who would have been 130 years old today. That is, if he hadn’t drunk himself to death at 34 years old. Although come to think of it, even if he hadn’t he’d be dead by now, but what the hell, let’s celebrate anyway.

He’s probably best known for his three Ubu plays (which I remember reading in the original French back in college), and his enduring legacy is as First Prophet of the “theatre of the absurd.” Naturally, the Discordian Society recognizes him as, well, if not a saint exactly, then at least a pretty cool guy.

Frankly, with reality approaching absurdity more and more each day, I don’t think a little remembrance of Jarry’s “science of ’Pataphysics” can be all that bad a thing.