Pataphysica 4 present the strange "conclusion" to Alfred Jarry's 1907 Symbolist novel The She-Dragon, Part 1 having appeared in Pataphysica 2 (iUniverse, 2004). It also holds the central, pivotal chapter of the novel, which describes a battle that, while entirely modern, reads like ancient myth, conjuring such texts as the Bhagavad-Gita and Homer's Iliad. Annotations highlight Jarry's alchemical symbolism (among other things), alchemy being the ancient "art and science" studied in secret by such modern scientist/philosophers as Gottfried Leibniz and Isaac Newton. Pataphysics is the science of imaginary solutions, and for Jarry, although there is no other imagination than the scientific, modern science has simply failed to keep up with the scientific imagination.Rounding out this otherwise rectangular issue are the works of several returning authors as well as some new ones. They provide additional musings on such themes as Jarry's alchemical/cosmological play The Pope's Mustardmaker, an amorous veteran of an internal war, microcosm and macrocosm, a fugitive writer apparently obsessed with conspiracy theories and baseball, a peculiar Grimoire on a new set of "Glorious Mysteries," and a terrifying invocation of the Thelemic Law of Rabelais (Jarry's literary "master") as adapted by Crowley. Strap on suitable eye protection and enjoy!
Brian Parshall Libros
In the great tradition of Nicolas Flamel and Fulcanelli, the immortal Dr. Faustroll returns to introduce this collection of writings on alchemy, that "secret science" no less mystifying and marvelous than our own art and science, pataphysics.Opening this anthology is Part 1 of Alfred Jarry's delightful last novel, La Dragonne (1907), translated from the French as The She-Dragon, and annotated to highlight some of Jarry's many alchemical allusions. Jarry's comic genius brings to life the inhabitants of a little town in the mountains of Savoy, focusing on gaming activities at and around the local tavern, and an oddly militaristic expectant father.Seven additional writers present their research or reflections on subjects as diverse as Chaucer's Canon's Yeoman's Tale, the bizarre Voynich Manuscript, Gustave Kahn's Tale of Gold and Silence, turn-of-the-20th-century South African statesman Paul Krüger (whose portrait bust appears on the Krügerrand), and symbolic dismemberment; two of these contributors present their work in poetic form, one of them seemingly cursed by alchemy, however benevolently, the other positing seven "easy" steps to completion of the "Great Work."Perhaps you will find yourself entwined somewhere in between, like Mercury's caduceus. For all pataphysicians, alchemists, and welcome to the other world.