Quotations and other information on Tardieu by Claude Beauclair

Jean Tardieu is a poet and dramatic author (1903-1995). An obsession with an always fleeting reality melting into absurdity and the fantasy of dreams characterize his work in which existential anguish is dissimulated through the brilliance of subtle verbal play, rich in its capacity to deconstruct (permutations of words revealing the function and the constraints of the context). The poems of Jean Tardieu were collected in Fleuve caché (1968). His dramatic work was published in the Poèmes à jouer (1960) and Théâtre de chambre (1955-1965).” [Le Petit Robert 2]

“Regarded A long time as a simple epigone of the theatre of the absurd, He actually testifies to a faculty of creative renewal which exceeds all classifications.” [Michel Corvin]

Excerpt from an interview with Jean-Marie Sidaner entitled: “Du rire aux larmes: Avant-propos sous forme de dialogue”:

Jean-Marie Sidaner: And your theater? Which role do you allot to it?

Jean Tardieu: It is initially another application of what I could call (pompously!) my "experimental method." I set a goal--perhaps too ambitious (because I carried out only partly my project): to cover the principal theatrical forms, traditional or contemporary, in short parts, some poetic, others frankly parodic. This is why they are for the majority of reduced size, almost "sketches." This is also why they are played so often. Some of these small parts are close to the wild and farcical imaginings of my " Professor Froeppel": "Un mot pour un autre," for example. Others hint to dreams or even nightmares. All are, for me, "different" forms of poetry. They are, thanks to a certain desired displacement, or to certain strange lighting effects, different approaches to a hidden reality which has to be accessed furtively. And, like the whole of my works, one could say that they go "from the laughter to tears. "

(Translated by Andrew Wallis)

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