That ridiculous Leon Bloy! One day he writes in his journal that that morning a horrible cry awakened him, as if it were coming from infinity. He did not doubt that this was the cry of a damned soul, so he fell to his knees and surrendered himself to ardent prayer. The next day he writes: “Ah, now I know whose soul that was. The press announced that Alfred Jarry died yesterday, at exactly the same hour and minute at which I heard his cry…” And now for the contrast—the ridiculous Alfred Jarry! In order to avenge himself on God, he asked for a toothpick and, picking his teeth, died.

From Witold Gombrowicz’s Diary, Vol. II, Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1989 (first published in 1962), pp. 157-158.