Mad Like Artaud

Those who are mad like Antonin Artaud, are they just as mad as he was? Madness, like the plague, is contagious, and everyone, from his psychiatrists to his disciples, family, and critics, everyone who gets close to Artaud, seems to participate in his delirium. Sylv\u00e8re Lotringer explores various embodiments of this shared delirium through what Artaud called \u201cmental dramas\u201d—a series of confrontations with his witnesses or \u201cpersecutors\u201d where we uncover the raw delirium at work, even in Lotringer himself. Mad Like Artaud does not intend to add one more layer of commentary to the bitter controversies that have been surrounding the cursed poet\u2019s work since his death in 1948, nor does it take sides among the different camps who are still haggling over his corpse. This book speaks of the site where \u201cmadness\u201d itself is simmering.