As an addendum to our toast to La Seine, I offer this sketch of the grave of Raymond Roussel, which I did on one of my visits there (yes, I went more than once).
Fittingly, the exterior is formal, the beauties hidden. Roussel was a chess buff. He therefore designed a mausoleum containing 32 compartments, inspired by the fact that the word for compartment and chess square is the same (case). After his suicide, his coffin was placed in one case: the king in one half of an endgame.
(Posted by Doug Skinner)
2 responses so far ↓
1 Lisa // Jul 10, 2008 at 1:22 pm
How did he afford such a posthumous extravagance?
2 Doug // Jul 10, 2008 at 10:32 pm
He inherited a lot of money. The stories of his eccentric indulgences are the stuff of literary legend. His suicide is much debated; one theory is that he killed himself partially because he had exhausted his fortune.