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THE FRENCH REVIEW, VO1. L, No. 4, March 1977 Printed in U.S.A.
T T
U BU'S UNIVERSE OWES ITS INTERNAL COHERENCE AND ITS VERY EXISTENCE to
its signs (and "anti-signs"). It does not vie with reality: its subversively
replaces the real world by virtue of the autonomic sign. In his extensive and
judicious study, Michel Arrive acknowledges "l'existence d'une veritable
hantise du signe" in Jarry's writings.l The motivated bond between the
signifier and the signified no longer relies-as it does in ordinary communica-
tive language-upon any referential content, the thing itself; on the contrary,
this relationship depends on an imitation by the signifier of a substance. Such
a motivated connection, accomplished here by the construction of morphopho-
netic models, involves the fundamental semiological problem of discovering
what laws govern the constitution and regulation of signs.2
Symbolic morphophoneticism accounts primarily for the creation of para-
digmatic neologisms, personal names, and syntagmatic accumulations which
systematically and simultaneously subvert the arbitrary but conventional
signs of the "real" world (and implicitly that world structured by those signs)
while circulating motivated but unconventional signs in their place. In turn,
the textual sign becomes the object of linguistic manipulation and subversion,
whence the emergence in the textual system itself of the "anti-sign" whose
morphophonetic reference is internal to that system. The ubuesque signs and
anti-signs-that is, those particular to the construction of the specific world
in which Ubu's form, function, and substance continue to exist-are thus not
restricted to any given work, but determine an intertextual universe in which
cross-reference by the reader must be assumed.
Each sign, because of its plastic rather than intellectual essence, exhibits
polyvalence, capable of signifying not only its own opposite but another
network of significations constructed elsewhere in the text or in another text:
infinite construction and destruction of a single sign in this linguistic game of
mirrors. It is precisely as a semiotic crossroad that the sign manifests its
cosmogonic power. Sequences of signs devoid of conventional referential
"content," devoid too of any logical syntagmatic coordination nevertheless
may signify unleashed gratuitous violence, vector of attack, weighty physical
presence, and utter disdain, while connoting the ludicrous tone of the verbal
' Michel Arrive, Les Langages de Jarry (Paris: Klincksieck, 1972), p. 39.
2 For a detailed discussion of the theory of phonetically motivated codes, see Jean-Michel
Peterfalvi, Introd 7wetion a la psycholing7wistiq7we (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1970)t
pp. 77-82.
586
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UBU 587
exchange. Witness, for example, the following battle between Ubu and
Bougrelas:
3 Ubu, now in chains, proclaims, "Cornegidouille! Nous n'aurons point tout demoli si nous
ne demolissons meme les ruines!"
4 It would appear, however, that this is merely a ploy of Jarry's to dupe his audience into
accepting a reformed tyrant, when indeed Ubu's essence-brute instinct-remains unchanged.
This is evident in the continued use of certain signs such as phynance and the subversive
inclusion of merdre in modified signifiers: "Vous venerable doyen de nos Phorcats . . . soyez
grand-tresorier de toutes nos phynances! . .. Vous tous, voleurs, bandits, arracheurs de
cervelle, je vous nomme sans distinction les vaillants OufElciers de notre Armerdre!" (Ubu
enchagne, IV.vii).
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588 FRENCH REVIEW
Just as silence is opposite but equal to the sign and to the anti-sign, it
goes without saying that these last two constitute an inversion. Their value
in Ubu's universe, initially indicated by the opposition of the Antichrist to
Christ, becomes evermore explicit in Ubu enchazne where this law is pro-
nounced, and which by its pronunciation calls into existence a new order. In a
world where "la liberte, c'est l'esclavage!" (UE, V.i) it is only natural to learn
that there, "ne commandent que les esclaves" (UE, V.i) and that Ubu, never
one to forego his biological comfort, becomes the king of the slaves, "celui . . .
qui porte un carcan de metal au cou, des ornernents tels que chalnes et
cordons aux pieds et aux mains" (UE, IV.vi). Of course, it is not the conven-
tional link of content between signifier and signified that is operative, as this
sequence illustrates, but the very structure of opposition, internal to the
lexico-stylistic system that is important.5
The principal lexical pardigm of the Ubu Cycle, introduced in Ubu roi,
consists of the triad "merdre-phynance-physique." This self-regulatory, dy-
namic lexico-stylistic system, along with certain of its transformations and
related "sub-lexemes"(ones that participate in creative morphophonetic moti-
vation but are secondary in importance to this recurrent triangle), creates
Ubu's inherent quality of libidinal revolt against a despised superego, that is,
of course, the "real world." By utilizing recognizable signs, but by deforming
them with the aim of conferring upon them a morphophonetic motivation that
is personal to himself, Jarry rendered these anti-signs capable of signifying
both of these dimensions: action and reaction, the given and the revolt, and
this because the very substance of the anti-sign contains these realities. Signs
are deformed and thus invented in accordance with the invention of Ubu, and
with him, his universe.
Merdre! constitutes the definitive challenge, a provocative projectile
hurled by Ubu at his audience. Plurivalent, however, it also signifies the
hero's personal enterprises and indeed his actual existence: in this universe of
transvaluation, that of the anti-sign, coveted excrement becomes choice
nourishment for Ubu's gigantic intestine, a world in itself. By virtue of its
intercalated r, which in this context phonetically symbolizes the cavernous
rumblings of Ubu's digestion and his rampages to satisfy his insatiable
appetite, "merdre" is what Ubu does and what he is. This uvular liquid
sound, whose emission requires but an amorphous open buccal cavity, when
articulated in the context of this anti-sign, serves as the very pivotal focus of
the universe, spontaneously and abruptly called into existence by the trans-
mission of the neologism. Ubu's childlike vulgarity reveals itself via the
addition of the second syllable to the signifier. The cosmogonic sign-as-
5 Michel Arrive defines a lexico-stylistic system as"un systeme lexical qui se manifeste non
dans une langue naturelle, mais dans un langage de connotation de la categorie dite 'texte
litteraire' " (Les Langages de Jarry, p. 301)
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UBU 589
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590 FRENCH REVIEW
which the Financiers are a prime exponent. Thus "phynance," due to its
manipulation and its association with "merdre," signifies the abhorrerlt
ontological modality of the bourgeois capitalist while being the very sub-
stance Ubu abusively extracts from his subjects and literally assimilates,
becoming none other than Ma^2re des Phynances. "Phynance" effectively
becomes the raw material upon which Ubu's sustenance depends. Signs with
which it enters into syntagmatic relationships serve to reinforce Ubu's sub-
stance (and his essence, since they are indentical): instruments he uses to
obtain "phynance" such as his sabre a finance, croc a finances, pistolet a
phynance, etc., mere extensions of himself, are illustrative. He synony-
mously calls upon his sabre a merdre and his croc a merdre with reference to
his tools of torture. A favorite expletive cornefinance likewise emphasizes the
relationship between Ubu's sadism and his being. King Ubu himself afElrms,
"De tous cotes on ne voit que des maisons brulees et des gens pliant sous le
poids de nos phynances" (Ubu roi, III.vii), and he repeatedly exclaims "corne
d'Ubu!" It becomes increasingly explicit that Ubu's seizure of power and
subsequent actions (that define his reality) intimately rely on "phynance."
Once in power he removed his predecessors from his kingdom by forcing them
down the trap door. The trap door represents Ubu's brutal imposition of his
way of life. Alluding to that scene in Ubu roi in which the Nobles, Magis-
trates, and Financiers are summarily disposed of, Ubu advises that "la
beaute du theatre a phynance git dans le bon fonctionnement des trappes"
( Ubu cocu, II.ii).
"Physique" completes the triangular paradigm. It too participates in the
morphophonetic act by which meanings are produced in Ubu's universe,
sharing with "phynance" a homophonous morpheme, signifying no referent
external to the textual system but rather signifying inclusion in that very
universe. Once again, the anti-sign signifies the physical conditions of Ubu
himself: his corporeal interest directs his activities, his interpersonal rela-
tionships, his mood. Ubu's "physique" informs the new realm (the inverted
world of the Antichrist) and founds its justice, a system maintained through
the use of Ubu's baton a physique, the perfect emanation of his person. Ubu's
sole concern is to attend to his physical well-being; he will pursue any
program capable of guaranteeing him a full belly and a roof over his gro-
tesque head. Naturally, his batons, crocs, pistolets, and cornes a merdre, as
well as a phynance and a physique serve to procure him gastric satisfaction
and thereafter to protect the coward. When threatened by an imminent
military invasion, Ubu royally announces, "Quant a nous, nous nous tien-
drons dans le moulin a vent et tirerons avec le pistolet a phynances par la
fenetre, en travers de la porte nous placerons le baton a physique, et si
quelqu'un essaye d'entrer gare au croc a merdre!!!" ( Ubu roi, IV.iii). Both the
paradigmatic relationship of the signs and their role in Ubu's lexicon (as well
as in his universe) are made eminently explicit by Ubu himself, who indicates
his military arsenal: "Les Russes ne sont pas loin et nous aurons bientot a
estocader de nos armes, tant a merdre, qu'a phynances et a physique" ( Ubu
roi, IV.iii).
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UBU 591
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592 FRENCH REVIEW
pour montrer ma double face. L'etre qui a de l'intelligence peut voir ces deux
contraires simultanes, ces deux infinis qui coexistent" (CA, IV.vii). Thus,
like the other syntagmatic grouping generated by physique, the baton-a-
physique indicates the identity between Ubu and his universe (they are
physically one and the same) by virtue of the binary process of assimilation
and rejection. The baton-a-physique further serves to establish Ubu-as-An-
techrist's instinctive phallic sadism. Addressing the baton, the Templar
exclaims, "Phallus deracine, NE FAIS PAS DE PAREILS BONDS!" (CA,
II.vi). Ubu's essence has thus been exteriorized in the obvious form of the
baton. The baton-a-physique is Ubu. The Antichrist and Christ signify the
Phallus (mediated metaphorically by the baton-a-physique)-and vice-
versa-which subsumes all contradictions and is All. Indeed, as Michel
Arrive points out, the divine quality of the phallus is revealed by the
Templar's allusion to Lautreamont's Les Chants de Maldoror, of which the
third includes an identical apostrophe by God to his hair, left in a brothel
(Arrive, p. 137). There can remain no doubt of the baton's divinity: with
reference to God, in another of Jarry's works (Gestes et opinions du Docteur
Faustroll, pataphysicien), we discover the intertextual allusion "Nous repon-
drons que Son prenom n'est pas Jules, mais Plus-et-Moins" (livre VIII, ch. 41),
clearly establishing the fact that the baton and God are identical. The baton
also signifies Ubu. Syllogistically, then, Ubu is God, a condition reinforced in
other instances by means of the linguistic system. The fact that Ubu and the
Phallus (and thus the baton) are identical-and thus that Ubu too is divine
and autogenerative-appears substantiated as well by the existence of the
Palotins, Ubu's faithful servants. Born of the sphere, they owe their name to
the pal, etymologically linked to the phallus and the well-known instrument
of torture. Impalement is the punishment for transgression that Ubu inflicts
on Achras in Ubu cocu.
Achras too is his name. He devotes his whole life to writing his treatise on
the mores of polyhedrons. This classical mind, whose tranquil study is
perrnanently disrupted by Ubu's entry, finds its perfect expression in the
Greek word become the name Achras. His name signifies his being and his
activities, governed by logic and calm, categorically opposed to Ubu who
ravages all semblance of the life Achras led prior to his intervention. Impor-
tantly, it is not via its conventional referential meaning ("pear tree") that the
name signifies in Ubu's universe, but its very form, the fact that it is Greek.
To return to physique as a model for relations in przsentia, perhaps
pataphysique best illustrates the way in which signs acquire meaning in
Ubu's world. This sign signifies the entire system of functions operant where
Ubu roams. By amalgamating the bound morpheme pata- to the free form
physique, Jarry succeeded in creating a complex form that refers not to any
object or situation external to the linguistic circumstances in which it occurs,
but to the relationship between all objects and situations within the lingllistic
system of the text. Given that the objects and situations internal to that
system exist as signs, pataphysique acquires a referential function precisely
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UBU
593
ordinary child language begins, and the aphasic dissolution of language preceding
its complete loss ends with what psychopathologists have termed the "labial stage."
In this phase speakers are able to produce only one type of utterance, which is
usually transcribed as /pa/. From the articulatory point of view the two constituents
of this utterance represent polar configurations of the buccal tract.... The diffilse
stop with its maximal reduction in the energy output offers the closest approach to
silence, while the open vowel represents the highest energy output of which the
human vocal apparatus is capable This polarity . . . appears primarily as a contrast
between two successive units-the optimal consonant and the optimal vowel . . . the
universal model of the syllable.6
Indeed, every known language utilizes the dichotomy grave/acute and com-
pact/diffuse, while other oppositions are not always obligatory (ibid., p. 439).
It is axiomatic thatpata is the most fundamental, universal speech act, the
segmentalization of the primary phonemic triangle:
a
/ \
p t [ibid., p. 438].
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FRENCH REV
594
pata
and night, reality and dream, plus and minus. Opposites are subsumed by the
infinite, the totality, the 1miversal, incarnated by Ubu, whose undifferen-
tiated ego includes the entire world, whose pre-logical speech is consubstan-
tial with his being. Accordingly, the nature of the cosmos depends upon the
individual. Binary schemas, emphasizing the traditional conflict between
these two realities (microcosmic self and macrocosmic world, the signifier and
the signified) are essentially nullified by the unsocialized individual who is
All. Pataphysique thus constitutes the science of the virtual, explored by the
individual imagination. All things being equal (because opposite), this sci-
ence simultaneously illustrates unity and duality; something is itself and its
opposite. This principle manifests itself in the speech of Bosse-de-Nage, the
faithful servant of Docteur Faustroll, pataphysician, himself an avatar of
Ubu, the original pataphysician. Bosse-de-Nage expresses himself uniquely
by the "tautological monosyllable" Ha ha. Jarry comments that
il est plus judicieux d'orthographier AA, car l' aspiration h ne s'ecrivait point dans la
langue antique du monde.... A juxtapose a A et y etant sensiblement egal, c'est la
forrnule du principe d'identit6: une chose est elle-meme. C'en est en meme temps la
plus excellente refutation, car les deux A difFerent dans l'espace, quand nous les
ecrivons, sinon dans le temps, comme deux jumeaux ne naissent point ensemble,-
emis par l'hiatus immonde de la bouche de Bosse-de-Nage. [Gestes et opinions, livre
IV, ch. 291
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UBU
595
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