Xavier Forneret in Beaune, Côte-d'Or (21)

Xavier Forneret (1809-84) was one who got away from me, largely because he was buried in the cemetery in Beaune, and not only are there apparently no pictures of his grave, but anyway the cemetery is huge. As far as I know, unlike the less influential Adolphe Retté, there is no plaque on the house where he once lived, or on the site of where he lived. Fortunately, Wikipédia provided a photo in the public domain. But he was born in Beaune and was a writer, playwright and poet. The only son of a wealthy merchant (mainly in high quality wine), he inherited his father's property on his death in 1928. His fortune allowed him to self-publish, but without success. He staged a few plays at his own expense in Dijon, spent several years in Paris, and later returned to Beaune. He died largely forgotten, although the surrealists brought him out of oblivion and made comparisons between him and Lautréamont and Raymond Roussel. André Breton saw him as a precursor of automatic writing and a master of black humour.