Jarry?s short life is full of anecdotes narrated by his contemporaries (Apollinaire, Rachilde and others) and constantly repeated by commentators and the authors of his biographies. Once the typology has been differentiated, we are trying to explain their fundamentals. The laicised anecdote is the continuation of the medieval exempla. It glorifies the writer?s extraordinary character and shows him being superior to all his contemporaries, even to his writings, and to King Ubu, above all. It is said that Jarry made his life a work of art. It is absolutely true. However, it is also true that he used to live the same sort of life as a writer as anybody else.