Caesar Antichrist

Caesar Antichrist (French: César-Antéchrist) is a short 1895 play by the French writer Alfred Jarry. The third act is an early version of Jarry's next play, Ubu Roi; the main character of which, Père Ubu, appears here as the Antichrist. This play begins with a startling sequence of images of garbled Christianity from which Ubu emerges as the new Messiah. Scholar argues the play was 'not intended for the stage' and is Jarry's own form of 'the theatre of the book'. While not a closet drama, Jannarone argues this might be its closest lineage, and can be considered within a tradition of works ranging from the 'Platonic dialogues and Senecan tragedies through Milton’s Samson Agonistes, Byron’s Manfred, and Villiers de l’Isle-Adam’s Axewhich'.

Caesar Antichrist

Caesar Antichrist (French: César-Antéchrist) is a short 1895 play by the French writer Alfred Jarry. The third act is an early version of Jarry's next play, Ubu Roi; the main character of which, Père Ubu, appears here as the Antichrist. This play begins with a startling sequence of images of garbled Christianity from which Ubu emerges as the new Messiah. Scholar argues the play was 'not intended for the stage' and is Jarry's own form of 'the theatre of the book'. While not a closet drama, Jannarone argues this might be its closest lineage, and can be considered within a tradition of works ranging from the 'Platonic dialogues and Senecan tragedies through Milton’s Samson Agonistes, Byron’s Manfred, and Villiers de l’Isle-Adam’s Axewhich'.