THE FORBIDDEN HISTORY OF ALFRED JARRY’S OCCULTATION…

NEAR THE END, A CIRCULAR SORE OPENED IN JARRY’S RIGHT BIG TOE, WHICH TURNED INTO A STRANGE VORTEX OUT OF WHICH MINIATURE PATAPHYSICAL MANUSCRIPTS AND OBJECTS BEGIN TO EMERGE…FLOATING AT FIRST ABOVE HIS BED, AND THEN DISAPPEARING OUT THE HOSPITAL WARD WINDOW AND INTO THE STREETS OF PARIS.

ENORMOUSLY INTRIGUED, JARRY EXCITEDLY POKED FIRST HIS FINGER, THEN HIS ENTIRE ARM INTO THIS SWIRLING MIASMA, TO THE DISMAY OF ALL IN ATTENDANCE (WHO INSISTED, THEREAFTER, ON REMAINING NAMELESS). FINALLY, HE STUCK HIS HEAD IN. THE NOW CHURNING VORTEX SUCKED HIM DOWN ENTIRELY, LEAVING ONLY A BIZARRE SPIRAL SPINNING IN THE AIR. AFTER A PROLONGED INTERVAL, HIS DELIGHTED FACE POKED BACK OUT. HE ANNOUNCED THAT HE HAD ENTERED AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE, WHICH HE CALLED HIS BIG T…O…E…HIS BIG “THEATER OF EVERYTHING”, ON THE OTHER SIDE, THEN HE DISAPPEARED AGAIN, (ALMOST) NEVER TO RETURN.

HIS FRIENDS CAPTURED THE HORRIFYINGLY MARVELOUS VORTEX IN A JAR, WHICH PASSED FROM ONE FRIEND TO ANOTHER OVER THE YEARS…ALWAYS HIDDEN AWAY AND GUARDED JEALOUSLY…ALWAYS CONSIDERED TOP SECRET. AS EACH THIS SELECT GROUP OF JARRY’S NOW GROWING  CADRE OF FOLLOWERS NEARED THE END, THEY DESCENDED INTO THE VORTEX INSTEAD.

WHEN THE Collège de ’Pataphysique WAS FOUNDED BY “THOSE IN THE KNOW” (WHO ALSO INSISTED ON REMAINING NAMELESS)THE JAR CONTAINING THE VORTEX WAS GIVEN OVER TO THEIR PROTECTION…THE PROTECTION OF THE HIGHEST AND MOST VENERATED SATRAPS…AND TO THIS DAY, IS USED FOR INDIVIDUAL OCCULTATION OF THE SELECT WHEN THE TIME ARISES.

AS THE STORY HAS IT, OCCASIONALLY, ONE OR ANOTHER OF THESE PATAPHYSICAL VOYAGERS….AT TIMES JARRY HIMSELF…WILL EMERGE FROM THE VORTEX, SECRETLY WANDER THIS MUNDANE UNIVERSE IN DISGUISE, AND THEN RETURN TO THEIR NEVERENDING IMPROVISATIONS WITH THE UNKNOWABLE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF THE VORTEX IN JARRY’S BIG T…O…E…


Another encounter with the BIG TOE Vortex and the Theater Of Everything may be found HERE.

Imaginal Looking Glass

Committee for Surrealist Investigation of Claims of the Normal - The Birth of Patapsychology

...Patapsychology begins from Murphy's Law, as Finnegan called the First Axiom, adopted from Sean Murphy. This says,and I quote,"The normal does not exist. The average does not exist. We know only a very large but probably finite phalanx of discrete space-time events encountered and endured." In less technical language, the Board of the College of Patapsychology offers one million Irish punds [around $700,000 American] to any "normalist" who can exhibit "a normal sunset, an average Beethoven sonata, an ordinary Playmate of the Month, or any thing or event in space-time that qualifies as normal, average or ordinary."...(cont.)

For the entire piece about the genesis of patapsychology, click HERE.

Critical Mass San Francisco - Dedicated to Alfred Jarry

1928 Dadaist Film

'Pataphysics For Dummies

Really Spooky 'Pataphysical Synchronicity

Ever since I started reading Alfred Jarry and reading about Pere Ubu and 'Pataphysics back in the 1960s, I have found that my interest in and attention paid to the Queen of the Sciences has waxed and waned in strange, more or less regular cycles. Every seven years or so something seems to pull me back, a new article, a new book, some odd news reference, etc. During one of those cycles...I think it was about 21 years ago...I was reading "Alfred Jarry: The Man With The Axe" by Nigey Lennon , illustrated by 'Pataphysical Artist extraordinaire Bill Griffith ("Zippy The Pinhead") . (Nigey Lennon also had a personal and professional relationship 'Pata-musician Frank Zappa and wrote "Being Frank - My Time With Frank Zappa".) During that period I usually stopped by Caffe Trieste in the North Beach section of San Francisco in the afternoons for an expresso and conversation. On one such occasion, I had Nigey Lennon's book with me to show to a couple of fellow enthusiasts and discuss with the many philosophers who usually held forth in the coffee house of an afternoon. I remember I was sitting in the banquette along the back wall beginning to read the last chapter in the book..."The 'Pataphysician: An Imaginary Solution", a fictional piece Lennon uses to conclude her non-fiction account of Jarry's life...when a fight broke out just outside the entrance. Two North Beach regulars were going at each other...screaming...flailing of arms...beat cops, etc. A crowd gathered. I got up and went outside to check things out, leaving the book on the banquette seat. A couple of old friends showed up...much talk...drinks at the Saloon across the street...then, I remembered the book...wanted to show them...went back into Trieste to get it (maybe half an hour had passed)...it was nowhere to be found. No one had seen anyone pick it up, it was not behind the counter in lost and found, not on the floor, not in the garbage can in the back...nowhere. I vowed to buy another copy, but never got around to it. That 'Pataphysical Cycle ended...others emerged...occasional thoughts of that book...but other material about Jarry and The Science appeared instead.

Cut to...two days ago. I find myself in the middle of another 'Pataphysical Cycle...I still live in North Beach but only rarely stop by Caffe Trieste for an espresso...was walking by the notorious Trieste corner...ran into a friend who invited me inside...walked to the banquette along the back wall to sit and talk...there on the seat "Alfred Jarry: The Man With The Axe" glared up at me. Flabbergasted, I picked it up and thumbed through it. I have a bad habit of dog-earing book pages that I want to return to. From the familiar worn look of the copy in my hands and the exact pages that had dog-eared corners, I realized that this was my copy of the  book from all those years ago. My friend did not believe me. Neither the others in the cafe nor the people behind the counter had noticed who had left the book in the banquette. I held it up and asked if anyone had lost a book. Nothing...

Later that night I finished reading last chapter of the book...the fiction piece. In it, we discover that Jarry  slipped by death in 1907 and rode his bicycle into Ethernity instead. He turns up in Los Angeles in 1984, becomes a pop culture hero, is elected (write-in votes) Mayor of LA, and then disappears again. 

Pick up  "Alfred Jarry: The Man With The Axe" if you can find a copy, if for no other reason than to read the account of Jarry as 'Pataphysical "Politician". Hopefully, his next stop is Washington D.C.

The book may be found HERE.

Hoodoo 'Pataphysics

Welcome to MOONDOG'S GALLERY OF FAKE TIJUANA BLACK VELVET/BLACK LIGHT HOODOO ART. The images below are offered for your enjoyment, entertainment and edification. They are not actually painted on black velvet by Mexican brujos...but they make a startling and powerful impression when matted with leopard or tiger fake fur and mounted in wide, florid, gold frames. Please visit the GALLERY, HERE.

The 'Pataphysical Cinematheque

The 'Pataphysical Cinematheque presents the trailer for the OuFiPo (Workshop of Potential Film) presentation of "Night of the Living Dead Meets Naked Lunch", a version of the iconic zombie movie "constrained"...freed? via application of Gyson & Burrough's cut-up method used in a "controlled" fashion. A password protected link to the entire film may be obtained upon request by writing to cinemorphics@yahoo.com.

'Pataphysical Haiku

These "Tabloid Haiku" are based on actual tabloid headlines constrained by the rules of tabloid composition. My book, Tabloid Haiku, is available HERE and at other outlets online.