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'Pataphysics: A Useless Guide

'Pataphysics: A Useless Guide

Paperback

Conceptual ArtGeneral PsychologyArt & Popular Culture

ISBN10: 0262527561
ISBN13: 9780262527569
Publisher: MIT Press
Published: Jan 30 2015
Pages: 296
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.60 Width: 4.50 Depth: 9.50
Language: English
The first complete account in English of the evolution of 'pataphysics from its French origins, with explications of key ideas and excerpts from primary sources, presented in reverse chronological order.

Of all the French cultural exports over the last 150 years or so, 'pataphysics--the science of imaginary solutions and the laws governing exceptions--has proven to be one of the most durable. Originating in the wild imagination of French poet and playwright Alfred Jarry and his schoolmates, resisting clear definition, purposefully useless, and almost impossible to understand, 'pataphysics nevertheless lies around the roots of Absurdism, Dada, futurism, surrealism, situationism, and other key cultural developments of the twentieth century. In this account of the evolution and influence of 'pataphysics, Andrew Hugill offers an informed exposition of a rich and difficult territory, staying aloft on a tightrope stretched between the twin dangers of oversimplifying a serious subject and taking a joke too seriously.

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General Psychology