Jacques Rigaut
Jacques Rigaut was a French surrealist poet. Born in Paris, he was part of the Dadaist movement. His works frequently talked about suicide and he came to regard its successful completion as his occupation. In 1929 at the age of 30, as he had announced, Rigaut shot himself, using a ruler to be sure the bullet would pass through his heart.
He is buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre.
His suicide inspired the book Le Feu Follet by Pierre Drieu la Rochelle. The movie The Fire Within (1963) directed by Louis Malle is based on this book.
“Η ζωή είναι τόσο άθλια που δεν αξίζει τον κόπο να την εγκαταλείψεις...”
Jacques Rigaut
“There is small merit in mocking goodness, tweaking charity; it is much more comic to deprive people of their petty little existence for no reason at all, for a lark.”
Jacques Rigaut
“There’s no reason to live, but there’s no reason to die, either. The only way we can still show our contempt for life is to accept it. Life is not worth the bother of leaving it. Out of charity, one might spare a few individuals the trouble of living, but what about oneself? Despair, indifference, betrayal, fidelity, solitude, the family, freedom, weight, money, poverty, love, absence of love, syphilis, health, sleep, insomnia, desire, impotence, platitudes, art, honesty, dishonor, mediocrity, intelligence – nothing there to make a fuss about. We know only too well what those things are made of, no point in watching for them.”
Jacques Rigaut
“Don't forget that I cannot see myself, that my role is limited to being the one who looks in the mirror.”
Jacques Rigaut