"> Name: Antonin Artaud, French dramatist and theater director

Date: 1926 - 1950

Location: Europe

SubjectExplicit Sexuality

MediumRadio


Artist: Antonin Artaud

Confronting Bodies: Wladimir Porche, director of "Radiodiffusion Francaise"

Date of Action: February 1948

Specific Location: France

Description of Artwork: Artaud's radio-production, "Pour en finir avec le jugement de dieu," consisted of four parts to be read over the radio to introduce a program called "Voices of the Poets." One part attacked American ambitions in the Marshall Plan, another evoked pagan gods from a Mexican cult to which Artaud belonged, another referred to feces and the last to the "anatomy of flatulance."



Description of Incident: French press alerted the director of "Radiodiffusion Francaise", Wladimir Porche, of the controversial contents of Artaud's work. Porche allowed a private listening of the piece before it aired. Those who attended, including a Dominican priest, approved the segement; however, Porche did not permit the piece to air.



Results of Incident: Artaud's piece was published in print and a public audition was held in February 1948. Artaud died of cancer one month later.



Source: Censorship, A World Encyclopedia, ed. D. Jones

Submitted By: NCAC


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