The Man Who Drew the Curtains

Raymond Roussel wrote novels set in countries he invented, described down to the species of fruit and the joints of the machinery. He could afford to. His father left him roughly forty million gold francs in 1894; his mother followed with a mansion in Neuilly and a staff of sixteen. He spent the rest of his life politely declining to look at anything that wasn't already in his head.

He spent up to two hours dressing for evenings he did not attend. His suits had a small fabric square sewn into the lining to count their wearings; after fifteen, they went to the valet. One week at the Ritz, he sent twenty-five handkerchiefs to the laundry.

In 1920 he sailed around the world. India, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Tahiti. He stayed in his cabin. "From all these travels," he later wrote, "I never took anything for my books."

So in 1924 he solved the problem properly. He commissioned, from a Paris coachbuilder, a thirty-foot land yacht with a salon, a study, a bathroom, a safe, a radio that picked up every major European station, and a dormitory for three servants. It was the first real motor-home. He drove it across Europe with the curtains drawn. In 1926 he took it to Rome to show the Pope, who was not allowed to come outside, and was shown photographs instead.

In Polynesia, he missed the sunsets. He was working.