Cimetière du Montparnasse (continued) #11: Roger Caillois

The sociologist and literary critic Roger Caillois (1913–78) associated with the surrealists earlier in his life, but broke with them and went on to develop a mixture of sociology and anthropology to study the sacred and mineralogy. At the invitation of writer and editor Victoria Ocampo he spent the war years in Argentina, where he worked for the French embassy. On his return to France after the Liberation he was eager to pass on his knowledge of Latin-American literature to Gallimard. His grave is anonymous apart from the ammonite which indicates his passion for mineralogy.