Pierre Ryckmans (writer)

Pierre Ryckmans (28 September 1935 – 11 August 2014), who also used the pen-name Simon Leys, was a Belgian-Australian writer, sinologist, essayist and literary critic.

Biography

Pierre Ryckmans was born in Brussels, Belgium. He studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven, and Chinese language, literature and art in Taiwan. He then went to Hong Kong, before settling down in Australia in 1970. He taught Chinese literature at the Australian National University (Canberra), where he supervised the honours thesis of future Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd,[1] and later (1987–93) was Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney. After that he returned to Canberra, where he lived for the remainder of his life.

In 1971, on the advice of his publisher, he decided to adopt a pseudonym before the release of Les habits neufs du président Mao, in order to avoid the risk of becoming a persona non-grata in the People's Republic of China. He chose "Leys" after the main character of Victor Segalen's novel René Leys (published in 1922).[2]

His many awards include the Prix Renaudot, the Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, the Prix Guizot and the Christina Stead Prize for fiction. In 1996 he delivered the Boyer Lectures on the theme "Aspects of Culture", in which he argued the need to cultivate the gardens of our minds, later published as The View From the Bridge.

He wrote regularly for the New York Review of Books and for Le Figaro littéraire, and was a fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities, an Honorary Commander of the French Navy and member of the Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique.

His translation of The Analects of Confucius has become the standard text, accompanied by a masterly introduction that sought to introduce readers to “the real, living Confucius” rather than the official Confucian cult portraying him as “always proper, a bit pompous, slightly boring” — and appropriated by authoritarians.

His translation of Simone Weil’s 1930s essay "On the Abolition of All Political Parties" — inspired, he said, by the “toxic atmosphere” that had started to pollute Australian politics.

His final book, a collection of essays, The Hall of Uselessness, was a particular masterpiece, revealing the scope of his eccentric interests, fine wit and brilliant insights.

He died of cancer in Sydney, Australia at the age of 78 in August 2014 surrounded by his wife and four children .[3][4]

Works

Ryckmans's books on the Chinese Cultural Revolution, based on his first hand observation, give scathing descriptions of the cultural and political destruction, as well as denouncing the hypocrisy of its western defenders. Ryckmans was also a translator of Chinese literature, such as the Analects of Confucius, and The Treatise on Painting by Shi Tao. He wrote in French and English.

The 2001 film The Emperor's New Clothes, directed by Alan Taylor, was based on Leys' novel The Death of Napoleon. Leys expressed distaste for the film, however; stating in an afterword accompanying a reprint of the novel that this "latter avatar [The Emperor's New Clothes], by the way, was both sad and funny: sad, because Napoleon was interpreted to perfection by an actor (Ian Holm) whose performance made me dream of what could have been achieved had the producer and director bothered to read the book."

Bibliography

For a more comprehensive list of his publications in various languages and editions, see World Cat for Pierre Ryckmans and Simon Leys; see also his Simon Leys byline in The New York Review of Books.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Nicholas Stuart: "Kevin Rudd: An Unauthorised Political Biography", Scribe, 2007
  2. ↑ Simon Leys: "Victor Segalen, les tribulations d'un poète en Chine", in Figaro Littéraire 3 February 2005
  3. ↑ Callick, Rowan (11 August 2014). "Chairman’s New Clothes author Pierre Ryckmans dies aged 78". The Australian. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Pierre Ryckmans, 78, Dies; Exposed Mao’s Hard Line

External links