Alfred Jarry: Liquidizing Paris and Debunking Verne
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theless describes this elusive, impossible but essential item as an object which is simultaneously material and abstract:
On n’y percevait plus les accidents des choses, mais la substance de l’univers, et
c’est pourquoi nous ne nous inquiétâmes point si la surface irréprochable était d’un
liquide équilibré selon des lois éternelles, ou d’un diamant impénétrable, sauf à la
lumière qui tombe droit. (I, p. 685)
This also neatly illustrates a principle which is a feature of Jarry’s
definition of pataphysics earlier in the novel, namely a proto-Cubist
notion that the characterization or indeed definition of a physical thing
is not fixed. It depends entirely on perspective, or rather the acceptance of multiple, simultaneous perspectives – a principle which is
made concrete (in its solid or liquid form) in the pataphysical voyage.
Pourquoi chacun affirme-t-il que la forme d’une montre est ronde, ce qui est
manifestement faux, puisqu’on lui voit de profil une figure rectangulaire étroite,
elliptique de trois quarts, et pourquoi diable n’a-t-on noté sa forme qu’au moment où
l’on regarde l’heure? Peut-être sous le prétexte de l’utile. (I, p. 669)
And however intensely hyper-artistic the expression of this may be,
the way in which it is narrated is more communicative than it may appear at first sight, and the above reflection about the shape of a watch
also conveys a definite sense of investigation, as well as of frustration
with two-dimensional thinking. Bringing these aspects together, if we
were to attempt a more prosaic analysis than this novel usually attracts, we might observe that there is a strong pedagogical streak, albeit a highly unconventional one given the complex universe being
unveiled within and alongside the apparently real one. As a narrator
Panmuphle is anything but omniscient; he is very much the neophyte,
representing the reader, filled with a wonderment at the supplementary
universe which Dr Faustroll reveals and explains.
This question of pedagogy is where it becomes appropriate to
introduce Jules Verne – or more precisely, Jarry’s subtle but damning
critique of the roman scientifique of which Verne remains the preeminent practitioner. Jarry actively invites the reader to consider
Verne by including Le Voyage au centre de la Terre (1864), as the last
of the pataphysician’s twenty-seven “livres pairs” – volumes seized by
Panmuphle, and reduced to essences (the “petit nombre des élus”) by
211
theless describes this elusive, impossible but essential item as an object which is simultaneously material and abstract:
On n’y percevait plus les accidents des choses, mais la substance de l’univers, et
c’est pourquoi nous ne nous inquiétâmes point si la surface irréprochable était d’un
liquide équilibré selon des lois éternelles, ou d’un diamant impénétrable, sauf à la
lumière qui tombe droit. (I, p. 685)
This also neatly illustrates a principle which is a feature of Jarry’s
definition of pataphysics earlier in the novel, namely a proto-Cubist
notion that the characterization or indeed definition of a physical thing
is not fixed. It depends entirely on perspective, or rather the acceptance of multiple, simultaneous perspectives – a principle which is
made concrete (in its solid or liquid form) in the pataphysical voyage.
Pourquoi chacun affirme-t-il que la forme d’une montre est ronde, ce qui est
manifestement faux, puisqu’on lui voit de profil une figure rectangulaire étroite,
elliptique de trois quarts, et pourquoi diable n’a-t-on noté sa forme qu’au moment où
l’on regarde l’heure? Peut-être sous le prétexte de l’utile. (I, p. 669)
And however intensely hyper-artistic the expression of this may be,
the way in which it is narrated is more communicative than it may appear at first sight, and the above reflection about the shape of a watch
also conveys a definite sense of investigation, as well as of frustration
with two-dimensional thinking. Bringing these aspects together, if we
were to attempt a more prosaic analysis than this novel usually attracts, we might observe that there is a strong pedagogical streak, albeit a highly unconventional one given the complex universe being
unveiled within and alongside the apparently real one. As a narrator
Panmuphle is anything but omniscient; he is very much the neophyte,
representing the reader, filled with a wonderment at the supplementary
universe which Dr Faustroll reveals and explains.
This question of pedagogy is where it becomes appropriate to
introduce Jules Verne – or more precisely, Jarry’s subtle but damning
critique of the roman scientifique of which Verne remains the preeminent practitioner. Jarry actively invites the reader to consider
Verne by including Le Voyage au centre de la Terre (1864), as the last
of the pataphysician’s twenty-seven “livres pairs” – volumes seized by
Panmuphle, and reduced to essences (the “petit nombre des élus”) by