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.
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