I loved the book, and that part has stuck through the years. (amongst other remarkable parts of this book) Now I wonder if Pennac had heard about this story and

I loved the book, and that part has stuck through the years. (amongst other remarkable parts of this book) Now I wonder if Pennac had heard about this story and if he was inspired by it. It always made me think of L'Arrache-Coeur by Boris Vian, where we can find "La Gloïre", this old man whose job was to literally swallow the shame of everybody else.