Heliogabalus Or, the Crowned Anarchist

Antonin Artaud's novelised biography of the 3rd-century Roman Emperor Heliogabalus is simultaneously his most accessible and his most extreme book. Written in 1933, at the time when Artaud was preparing to stage his legendary Theatre of Cruelty, Heliogabalus is a powerful concoction of sexual excess, self-deification and terminal violence. Translated by Alexis Lykiard (acclaimed translator of Lautreamont's Maldoror) and with an introduction by Stephen Barber (author of Artaud: Blows & Bombs; Artaud: The Screaming Body; and Caligula: Divine Carnage).