Oddlet: Alfred Jarry · 1 min read
Jul 30, 2026
Notre Grande Chasublerie
His ceilings were 1.65 metres high, which suited him perfectly. Every guest he ever received had to crouch.
In early 1898, Alfred Jarry — author of Ubu Roi, inventor of 'pataphysics, the science of imaginary solutions — moved into an apartment at 7 rue Cassette in the sixth arrondissement of Paris.
The landlord had subdivided one storey horizontally. The ceilings were roughly 1.65 metres high. Jarry, at just under five feet, could stand. Every guest he ever received had to crouch.
He named it Notre Grande Chasublerie, Our Grand Chasublery, after the vestment-makers downstairs, and used the royal "we" for himself inside it. He dressed for the address in black bicycle-racing clothes. The broken windows he stuffed with old newspapers. Whitewash from the low ceiling kept rubbing off into his hair, so he wore the whitewash. He referred to the wind as "that which blows" and his bicycle as "that which rolls."
In the middle of the single low room he built a dust-covered pyramid of books. At its centre he placed a gift from Félicien Rops.
It was an enormous stone phallus.
He lived around it for nine years.
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- Wikipedia — Alfred Jarry — Authoritative overview: birth (8 Sept 1873, Laval) and death (1 Nov 1907, Paris) dates, height (under 5 feet), neighbor-shooting quote, absinthe nicknames, last request for 'a toothpick,' Picasso inheriting the revolver, and bibliography.
- Wikipedia — Ubu Roi — Premiere date (10 December 1896), venue (Nouveau-Théâtre, 15 rue Blanche), Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre, opening word 'Merdre,' Firmin Gémier as Ubu, riot, W. B. Yeats's attendance and quotation.
- New World Encyclopedia — Alfred Jarry — Family background, education at Rennes and the unsuccessful ENS bid, the half-floor apartment, the neighbor-shooting quote in full, absinthe consumption details, the green-faced bicycle ride, last words to a priest, burial at Bagneux.
- Strange Flowers — At home with Alfred Jarry — Describes the 'Grande Chasublerie' on the 2½ floor in the 6th arr., the landlord's horizontal subdivision, André Salmon's account of broken windows, dust-pyramid of books, and the Félicien Rops stone phallus.
- Podium Cafe — The Supermale, by Alfred Jarry — Details on the Clément Luxe bicycle: 525 francs plus 20 fr. for wooden rims, bought 30 Nov 1896 from Jules Trochon in Laval; only two 5-fr. payments made, sister paid 15 fr. in 1899; debt unpaid at death.
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The Buckingham Palace Duel
At six, mid-reverse-bow out of Buckingham Palace, the Queen's poodle came for him — so he drew his sword.
The Diagnosis
What happens when a Soviet prison doctor has to diagnose the man who invented Russian absurdism?
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