SOURCE: Greenfield, Anne. “Jarry, Ubu and Humour Noir.” Romance Notes 28, no. 3 (spring 1988): 227-34.

In the following essay, Greenfield uses Jarry's Ubu Roi to develop André Breton's theory of black humor and to argue that Jarry made a significant contribution to black humor.

Although it is clear from André Breton's own frequent references to him that Alfred Jarry left an important legacy to humour noir, this legacy has received almost no critical notice. Any mention of Jarry's importance to black humor concerns either his inclusion in Breton's Anthologie de l'humour noir or the interpretation of his humor by Breton's friend, Jacques Vaché.¹ However, neither the Anthologie nor Vaché's letters completely reveal Jarry's contribution to black humor. First of all, Breton's commentary in the Anthologie is not logically useful in determining Jarry's original legacy to humour noir, as Breton already had his own theory of black humor before compiling...