The Pataphysical Society of New York
@patanyc.bsky.social
Investigating exceptions to rules, equivalence of opposites, and the science of imaginary solutions (and its practitioners). https://patanyc.org
Fortunately for English readers, @wakefieldpress.bsky.social has issued far more accessible editions of Schwob's work in translation, including Imaginary Lives (along with other pataphysical and pataphysics-adjacent writing. All writing is pataphysics-adjacent, but some more than others.)
November 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Fortunately for English readers, @wakefieldpress.bsky.social has issued far more accessible editions of Schwob's work in translation, including Imaginary Lives (along with other pataphysical and pataphysics-adjacent writing. All writing is pataphysics-adjacent, but some more than others.)
An unexpected author among this year's most expensive book sales: Marcel Schwob, to whom Jarry dedicated Ubu Roi. Schwob helped to champion young Jarry's work, but he has largely fallen into obscurity. Yet not completely:
www.abebooks.com/books/rarebo...
www.abebooks.com/books/rarebo...
November 29, 2025 at 6:00 PM
An unexpected author among this year's most expensive book sales: Marcel Schwob, to whom Jarry dedicated Ubu Roi. Schwob helped to champion young Jarry's work, but he has largely fallen into obscurity. Yet not completely:
www.abebooks.com/books/rarebo...
www.abebooks.com/books/rarebo...
118 years ago, Jarry acquired the necessary experiences to savor all possible beauties, pataphysical and otherwise. The author surpasses the author, November 1, 1907.
November 1, 2025 at 12:52 PM
118 years ago, Jarry acquired the necessary experiences to savor all possible beauties, pataphysical and otherwise. The author surpasses the author, November 1, 1907.
"Taunting the Useful" by Loumille Métros (published in August of last year) is compact, whimsical, and thought-provoking, with wonderfully eclectic citations – and it’s available as a free download from Punctum Books: punctumbooks.com/titles/taunt...
October 4, 2025 at 12:38 PM
"Taunting the Useful" by Loumille Métros (published in August of last year) is compact, whimsical, and thought-provoking, with wonderfully eclectic citations – and it’s available as a free download from Punctum Books: punctumbooks.com/titles/taunt...
After he gained divisive fame in France, Henri Rousseau’s first solo show was in 1910 at “291” – the renowned NYC gallery that later introduced Americans to Cezanne and Picasso. Of course, Jarry had already recognized Rousseau's genius by commissioning his only lithograph for L'Ymagier No. 2.
September 27, 2025 at 1:20 PM
After he gained divisive fame in France, Henri Rousseau’s first solo show was in 1910 at “291” – the renowned NYC gallery that later introduced Americans to Cezanne and Picasso. Of course, Jarry had already recognized Rousseau's genius by commissioning his only lithograph for L'Ymagier No. 2.
Reading Rotpunkt! (Pataphysics of a Criminal Mind), the new experimental novel by Alberto Calligaris is fiendishly disorienting because it is almost entirely written in IPA notation. The supposedly “found” text contains encryptions, neologisms, stains, and mystery!
September 22, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Reading Rotpunkt! (Pataphysics of a Criminal Mind), the new experimental novel by Alberto Calligaris is fiendishly disorienting because it is almost entirely written in IPA notation. The supposedly “found” text contains encryptions, neologisms, stains, and mystery!
Here’s a contemporary application of pataphysics in a fun little paper on pataphors by Timo Airaksinen. Warning: contains some spicy pataphysical claims. Also delightful for its treatment of contemporary and more recent, lesser cited sources.
jmb-online.com/pdf/05/JMB-4...
jmb-online.com/pdf/05/JMB-4...
September 10, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Here’s a contemporary application of pataphysics in a fun little paper on pataphors by Timo Airaksinen. Warning: contains some spicy pataphysical claims. Also delightful for its treatment of contemporary and more recent, lesser cited sources.
jmb-online.com/pdf/05/JMB-4...
jmb-online.com/pdf/05/JMB-4...
Today is the birthday of Alfred Jarry, first and greatest popularizer of Sophrotatos the Armenian, and father of modern pataphysics. Born on this date 152 years ago. Merdre! Portrait by Frédéric-Auguste Cazals.
September 8, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Today is the birthday of Alfred Jarry, first and greatest popularizer of Sophrotatos the Armenian, and father of modern pataphysics. Born on this date 152 years ago. Merdre! Portrait by Frédéric-Auguste Cazals.
152 years ago today, there was a final moment in the universe, having lasted since the start of eternity, that was about to end: the period of existence that had not yet contained Alfred Jarry.
September 7, 2025 at 4:14 PM
152 years ago today, there was a final moment in the universe, having lasted since the start of eternity, that was about to end: the period of existence that had not yet contained Alfred Jarry.
Pataphysicians have a proclivity for colorful language.
May 17, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Pataphysicians have a proclivity for colorful language.
An original performance ticket and program from the 1896 premiere of Ubu Roi sold at auction today outside Paris. Hammer price: €3340. The extremely rare ephemera came from the collection of historian and critic Victor Perrot. Congratulations to the lucky collector!
May 5, 2025 at 11:07 PM
An original performance ticket and program from the 1896 premiere of Ubu Roi sold at auction today outside Paris. Hammer price: €3340. The extremely rare ephemera came from the collection of historian and critic Victor Perrot. Congratulations to the lucky collector!
Saddened to hear of David Thomas’s death last week. His scathing, jubilant, irascible sound will live forever.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTt...
Unrelated, here’s a concert lineup featuring Pere Ubu and the current president of the London Institute of Pataphysics.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTt...
Unrelated, here’s a concert lineup featuring Pere Ubu and the current president of the London Institute of Pataphysics.
May 2, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Saddened to hear of David Thomas’s death last week. His scathing, jubilant, irascible sound will live forever.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTt...
Unrelated, here’s a concert lineup featuring Pere Ubu and the current president of the London Institute of Pataphysics.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVTt...
Unrelated, here’s a concert lineup featuring Pere Ubu and the current president of the London Institute of Pataphysics.
“Fear Visits Love” is featured in Crease by Domino Books (2024), an art comic anthology edited by Austin English. Here Jarry – and Rachilde! – are deliciously illustrated by @cccilla.bsky.social. www.dominobooks.org/crease.html
April 26, 2025 at 5:29 PM
“Fear Visits Love” is featured in Crease by Domino Books (2024), an art comic anthology edited by Austin English. Here Jarry – and Rachilde! – are deliciously illustrated by @cccilla.bsky.social. www.dominobooks.org/crease.html
To celebrate National Poetry Month, we offer this new translation of Alfred Jarry’s "The Man with The Axe," alongside the painting that inspired it.
April 13, 2025 at 5:59 AM
To celebrate National Poetry Month, we offer this new translation of Alfred Jarry’s "The Man with The Axe," alongside the painting that inspired it.
How tall was Dr. Faustroll? Jarry says "medium height," but the classic equation, given in terms of atomic diameters, says otherwise. Multiplying even the smallest atom's diameter (hydrogen at .1 nm) by the 81,405,000,000 from Jarry's equation results in 8.1 meters or 26.7 feet in height!
April 7, 2025 at 10:12 PM
How tall was Dr. Faustroll? Jarry says "medium height," but the classic equation, given in terms of atomic diameters, says otherwise. Multiplying even the smallest atom's diameter (hydrogen at .1 nm) by the 81,405,000,000 from Jarry's equation results in 8.1 meters or 26.7 feet in height!
The origins of the poop emoji are typically traced back to the “Dr. Slump” manga series of 1980 to 1984, but this cover of a 1977 translation of Ubu Roi suggests the “unchi” has a deeper, more pataphysical history in Japanese culture. Perhaps we haven’t been looking in all the right pelvises. 💩
April 2, 2025 at 5:28 PM
The origins of the poop emoji are typically traced back to the “Dr. Slump” manga series of 1980 to 1984, but this cover of a 1977 translation of Ubu Roi suggests the “unchi” has a deeper, more pataphysical history in Japanese culture. Perhaps we haven’t been looking in all the right pelvises. 💩
"For I am neither stationary nor static, but dynamic, like unto the dragon which, with its tail, drags down a third part of the stars, I make fall in my wake all that is worthy of my purple...." - From Jarry's Caesar Antichrist
March 26, 2025 at 1:05 AM
"For I am neither stationary nor static, but dynamic, like unto the dragon which, with its tail, drags down a third part of the stars, I make fall in my wake all that is worthy of my purple...." - From Jarry's Caesar Antichrist
Fans of #Severance may have savored the many images and themes from pataphysical texts throughout the show. For example: the balloon heads of the opening credits, recalling a leitmotif in Days and Nights. Literature always knows us before we know ourselves.
March 21, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Fans of #Severance may have savored the many images and themes from pataphysical texts throughout the show. For example: the balloon heads of the opening credits, recalling a leitmotif in Days and Nights. Literature always knows us before we know ourselves.
Collectors, bibliophiles, and pataphysicians take note: several full sets of the Cahiers du Collège de 'Pataphysique (and other notable journal series) are currently available on major used book platforms. The photos alone are enough to make one's heart skip a beat.
www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...
www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...
March 7, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Collectors, bibliophiles, and pataphysicians take note: several full sets of the Cahiers du Collège de 'Pataphysique (and other notable journal series) are currently available on major used book platforms. The photos alone are enough to make one's heart skip a beat.
www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...
www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sear...
The Physics of Pears: A Pataphysical Approach to Geometrodynamics (arxiv.org/html/2411.11...) suggests the universe itself prefers pear-shaped graphs as the fundamental geometry of spacetime.
That Ubu's head also manifests in this form is no mere coincidence – a correlation of exceptions, indeed!
That Ubu's head also manifests in this form is no mere coincidence – a correlation of exceptions, indeed!
January 10, 2025 at 2:34 PM
The Physics of Pears: A Pataphysical Approach to Geometrodynamics (arxiv.org/html/2411.11...) suggests the universe itself prefers pear-shaped graphs as the fundamental geometry of spacetime.
That Ubu's head also manifests in this form is no mere coincidence – a correlation of exceptions, indeed!
That Ubu's head also manifests in this form is no mere coincidence – a correlation of exceptions, indeed!
Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror) was famously a part of Faustroll's library.
December 30, 2024 at 3:06 AM
Les Chants de Maldoror (The Songs of Maldoror) was famously a part of Faustroll's library.
Behold the plus-in-minus, that often-overlooked symbol of the science of pataphysics.
December 24, 2024 at 5:55 AM
Behold the plus-in-minus, that often-overlooked symbol of the science of pataphysics.
Ubu's physiognomy can be confusing at first. Here's a reminder of Jarry's intention behind the iconic portrait of the Master of Phynance.
November 18, 2024 at 11:46 PM
Ubu's physiognomy can be confusing at first. Here's a reminder of Jarry's intention behind the iconic portrait of the Master of Phynance.
"Pataphysics is *the* science" - Alfred Jarry
November 17, 2024 at 12:28 PM
"Pataphysics is *the* science" - Alfred Jarry