The last ten days, I have indulged myself in Roland Topor.
I had to write a preface for a collection of his work that will come out in the Netherlands this spring.
Many people might not have heard of Roland Topor, and that is a shame.
He was a painter and a writer, and from time to time, he did some acting.
Roman Polanski based his movie The Tenant on a novel by Topor.
Topor died in 1997 and a year later, the American journalist Margie Goldsmith wrote a small article in the New York Times Magazine about her first meeting with Mr. Topor.
“I first met Roland Topor at La Coupole in Paris in 1967. I was smoking a Marlboro. A few tables over sat a short, stocky man with huge eyes who looked like Peter Lorre. He started making funny faces at me, so I made them right back. Soon, a waiter arrived at my table with a silver serving dish. He lifted the cover and presented me with a bowl of green pea soup, in the middle of which floated a pack of Marlboro Reds. I asked who had sent it, and he pointed to the funny man with the big eyes. The man was Roland Topor, who became my buddy and my friend.” I’m not an art collector, but I do collect the paintings and drawings by Topor. Fortunately he is not liked by many, so I can afford it.
An art critic said about Topor's work that it "is nothing if not scatological and sexual, but it is never just that.” Topor, I would say, causes his audience to befriend the ugly and less pleasant sides of life. All men might be beasts, but he is not going to punish the man or the beast for that.
A journalist remarked that “giving offense” came naturally to Topor.
Most people have to work hard to give offense.
He could not help it, and that is one of the reasons I like him so much.
If you want to escape the darkness of the holiday season, I can only urge you to indulge yourself in Topor.
But be warned: Topor once made a movie based on the novel Justine by Marquis de Sade. In this movie, Marquis de Sade is a dog with “a talking penis who challenges de Sade in philosophical discourse.” If you can’t stand philosophical discourse and/or a talking penis, stay away from Roland Topor.