Heliogabalus: or, the Crowned Anarchist.

REVIEWS / BOOKS Heliogabalusor, the Crowned AnarchistAntonin ArtaudInfinity Land Press 2019Hb, 196pp, £25, ISBN 9781916009110 In AD 218, a 14-year-old Syrianlad called Varius Avitus Bassianusarrived in Rome as the EmperorMarcus Aurelius AntoninusPius Felix Augustus, known tohistory by the name of his god,Elagabalus ("Greekified" asHeliogabalus). Stephen Barber tells us thatthe dissident surrealist poetAntonin Artaud, instigatorof the Theatre of Cruelty,"effortlessly out-imagined andout-hallucinated André Breton,while ridiculing his politicalaffiliations." As the book's blurb says,"Heliogabalus is simultaneouslyhis most extreme, revolutionaryand deranged book". [Extracted from the article]