Raymond Roussel inherited at sixteen a fortune that made him a multimillionaire, and published all his life at his own expense without ever finding his public: Impressions of Africa passed unnoticed, and it was the stage adaptation of Locus Solus, at the Théâtre Antoine in 1922, that finally provoked brawls in the house. He wanted a vault with thirty-two places, as many as there are pieces on a chessboard, he who had found the solution to a difficult mate. It was not granted him.
The story
Raymond Roussel wanted to be buried alone in a vault of thirty-two places — the number of pieces on a chessboard, he who had worked out how to mate a lone king with a bishop and a knight. The wish was not granted. The stone reads: “Famille R. ROUSSEL. Raymond, ROUSSEL, 1877-1933.”
Born on 20 January 1877, he inherited his father's fortune at sixteen and became a multimillionaire. In 1896 he wrote La Doublure in the grip of a “sensation of universal glory of an extraordinary intensity” — his “curious crisis”. The failure of the book threw him into a depression treated by Pierre Janet, who would describe his case in De l'angoisse à l'extase.
Impressions d'Afrique went unnoticed in 1910; Locus Solus, staged in 1922, set off brawls in the auditorium; in 1924, at a performance of L'Étoile au front, Desnos threw at the hostile audience: “We are the claque and you are the cheek.” He published at his own expense. An inventor besides — a patent on the use of vacuum, a mathematical theorem, a gold medal for pistol shooting — he travelled round the world in 1920-1921.
Admired by Breton, Cocteau, Aragon, Éluard and later Perec, he died in Palermo on 14 July 1933. Nothing of all that on the stone, which carries only a family name, a first name and two dates for a man Breton held to be “the greatest hypnotist of modern times”.
The grave
A family grave of total sobriety: “Famille R. ROUSSEL. Raymond, ROUSSEL, 1877-1933.” The contrast is complete with what he had asked for — a vault with thirty-two places, in reference to the thirty-two pieces on a chessboard, he who had formulated the solution to the king-bishop-knight mate against a lone king. The wish was never fulfilled. Nothing indicates either that André Breton saw in him “the greatest mesmerist of modern times”.
On site, do not miss
A sober family grave — “Famille R. ROUSSEL” — for a man who had asked for a vault with thirty-two places, like the thirty-two pieces on a chessboard.
Visitors' questions
Where is Raymond Roussel's grave?
In Division 89, avenue Carette, first row, in a plain family grave: “Famille R. ROUSSEL. Raymond, ROUSSEL, 1877-1933”. Oscar Wilde's tomb is a few paths away: two writers with nothing in common, in one Division.
Oscar WildeWhy did he want thirty-two places?
Because a chessboard holds thirty-two pieces. A chess player — he had worked out the mate of king, bishop and knight against a bare king — Roussel asked for a vault of thirty-two places. The wish was not granted.
Georges CourtelineWas he known in his lifetime?
No. Impressions d'Afrique (1910) went unnoticed, and so did the novel Locus Solus (1914) — it was the stage adaptations that caused the scandal: fist fights in the stalls at the Théâtre Antoine in 1922, and in 1924 Desnos had to shout at the audience: “We are the hand and you are the cheek.” He published at his own expense.
Franc-NohainWhat did he invent?
A patent on the use of a vacuum, a mathematical theorem, the formula for a chess mate — and he was a gold medallist at pistol shooting. The fortune he inherited at sixteen left him time to try everything.
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