The 3 best books by Simon Leys

Sometimes it takes a kind of intermediary to get closer to other cultures under the ethnocentric umbrella of a shared imagination. simon leys (pseudonym of the Belgian writer Pierre Ryckmans) brought us closer to the universe of the Chinese with a literature that goes from the political to the artistic, in a range as wide as that of the own motivations of an author with a multitude of edges.

Because in addition to his narrative linked to his status as a renowned sinologist, Leys championed a very his own literature between the romantic and the realistic, taking universal characters to launch uchronies, crossbreeding between facts and fictions, a suggestive scenario that is still enjoyed today as a different reading exercise.

Not all of Leys' work is translated into Spanish and we will surely miss out on many other great books. But in what has come down to our language we have a great example of that virtuosity of the total writer capable of transmitting in the same work the residue of the essay and the dynamism of a novel plot. Definitely an author to fully enjoy.

Top 3 Recommended Books by Simon Leys

Chairman Mao's new suit

A tale of power, the powerful metaphor of the emperor's new suit, as sumptuous as it is finally invisible to the sight of a "simple" child, fits perfectly into this analysis of the figure of Mao Tse Tung.

Simon Leys chronicled the events that were unfolding in China, under Mao, pointing out the criminal practices of the regime and the totalitarian aspect that Chinese communism was adopting.

Year by year, Leys unravels the maneuvers of Maoism in the so-called Cultural Revolution, its infighting and the ideological delusion that plunged China into a totalitarian frenzy. Reactions to the publication of the book in France were virulent, attacking Leys as a CIA agent or reactionary.

Napoleon's death

Perhaps it is not a uchronia in which alternatives to History are proposed. It may simply be a mechanically pretentious starting point to address ultimately more transcendent aspects of the human condition. Because yes, in the pose and in what is known of Napoleon's narcissistic attitude there is a lot of that conceited and self-mythologized human essence...

For this mission, Leys undoubtedly evokes Napoleon's escape from the island of Elba in 1815. And with that guideline, the first attempt, if successful, everything becomes more credible...

The news spreads across Europe like wildfire and yet Napoleon is alive. After an ingenious escape from Santa Elena, the one who has died is none other than the unfortunate impostor who supplanted him in prison.

Meanwhile, Napoleon tries to return by ship to France to regain the throne posing as a certain Eugène Lenormand, although the crew ends up calling him Napoleon to make fun of him. In this uncomfortable but enforced anonymity, the situation will confront him with endless errors, misunderstandings and setbacks, which will lead him to immerse himself more and more in the enigma of his own myth. But will he ever regain his identity? Who is he, now that the emperor is dead?

The castaways of Batavia

The book that could be and never was. Quite a thoughtlessness of a young writer named Mike Dash who was ahead of him in an extensive work about the rugged facts of this shipwreck.

But Leys, after the upset, finally dared to give his version of the events. And knowing his work, everyone could imagine that nothing seen in literature about the events would be repeated or repeated. The odyssey of survival was proposed again, this time in a smaller version.

On the night of June 3-4, 1629, the Batavia, pride of the Dutch East India Company, was shipwrecked a short distance from the Australian mainland, after colliding with a coral archipelago. The shipwreck was atrocious. While Pelsaert, representative of the shipowner, and the captain tried to reach Java in a boat to seek help, the more than two hundred survivors saw how Cornelisz, a former apothecary persecuted by justice, threw them into a well of terror and violence.

The castaways of Batavia
5/5 - (7 votes)

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