The Jarry myth is a continuously evolving narrative that adds and deletes information to serve the culture in which it thrives. From his writings one can imagine Jarry would be delighted with his success in appearing to the present time as being at once mysterious and monstrous, with his ability to conceal facts about his life and personality, and with the distortions and mystifications of meaning in his writing. Jarry was a true subscriber to what he himself dubbed "'Pataphysics," which was a scientific "discipline" that he created not only as a form of science but also as a philosophy of life to be fully enacted. In Gestes et opinions du docteur Faustroll, 'pataphysicien (Exploits and Opinions of Doctor Faustroll, 'Pataphysician) which he wrote in 1898 but which was not published until 1911, Jarry described the principles of 'Pataphysics, principles implicit not only in all his writings but in his attitude to life:
La pataphysique est la science de ce qui se surajoute à la métaphysique. . . . Elle étudiera les lois qui régissent les exceptions et expliquera l'univers supplémentaire à celui-ci; ou moins ambitieusement décrira un univers que l'on peut voir et que peut-être l'on doit voir à la place du traditionnel, les lois que l'on a cru découvrir de l'univers traditionnel étant des corrélations d'exceptions aussi, quoique plus fréquentes, en tous cas de faits accidentels qui, se réduisant à des exceptions peu exceptionnelles, n'ont même pas l'attrait de la singularité.
