Fernando Arrabal is a French-Spanish poet, novelist, playwright, cinematographer, essayist, opera librettist, performer, occasional film actor, and all-round polemicist and iconoclast. His work is often autobiographically inspired, and is filled with sexual and religious iconography, breaking taboos regarding nudity or sexual proclivity, including sado-masochism. His narrative style is often fantastic and surrealist, but also displays an in-your-face literalism. In his work, he unapologetically foregrounds his obsessions, frustrations, and dreamlike fantasies, and does so in a unique poetic language. His theatre and film work is extremely demanding – some critics say exploitative– vis à vis his actors, and almost invariably results in controversial audience reception. While his work…
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Citation: Defraeye, Piet. "Fernando Arrabal". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 November 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12017, accessed 31 October 2024.]
