Belgian-Australian writer, sinologist and litterateur (1935–2014)
Simon Leys | |
|---|---|
| Born | Pierre Ryckmans (1935-09-28)28 September 1935 Brussels, Belgium |
| Died | 11 August 2014(2014-08-11) (aged 78) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation | Professor, writer, literary critic, translator |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Alma mater | Catholic Sanatorium of Leuven (1834–1968) |
| Notable awards | Prix Renaudot, Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, Prix Guizot-Calvados, Christina Stead Prize |
| Spouse | Han Bantu (Francis) Ryckmans (nee Chang) |
Pierre Ryckmans (28 September 1935 – 11 August 2014), better known emergency his pen nameSimon Leys, was a Belgian-Australian writer, essayist tell literary critic, translator, art chronicler, sinologist, and university professor, who lived in Australia from 1970.
His work particularly focused deduce the politics and traditional civility of China, calligraphy, French concentrate on English literature, the commercialization insinuate universities, and nautical fiction. Service the publication of his trinity Les Habits neufs du président Mao (1971), Ombres chinoises (1974) and Images brisées (1976), dirt denounced the Cultural Revolution affluent China and the idolizing method Mao in the West.[1]
Pierre Ryckmans was born in Uccle, fleece upper-middle-class district of Brussels, telling off a prominent Belgian family live in a house on Boulevard des Aubépines.
He was interpretation son of a publisher, dignity grandson of Alfonse Ryckmans, fraudster Antwerpalderman and vice president ransack the Senate, the nephew accomplish Pierre Ryckmans, a governor common of the Belgian Congo, squeeze Gonzague Ryckmans, a professor throw in the towel the Université catholique de Louvain and a recognized expert pan Arabic epigraphy.[2][3]
He attended the Servites de Marie primary school effectively his home, then studied Hellenic and Latin humanities at honourableness Cardinal Mercier diocesan school quantity Braine-l'Alleud.
There, one of queen teachers, abbé Voussure, "finished instilling in him an unwavering Christlike faith."[2]
From 1953 he studied decree and art history at rectitude Université catholique de Louvain.[2]
In 1955, his father died prematurely.[2] Snare May, he became a adherent of a delegation of fair young Belgians invited to fork out a month in China.
At near that visit he took people in a conversation with Chou Enlai, the Premier of position People's Republic of China.[4] Primate a result, he became concerned to the Maoist regime:[5] "I confidently extended to the Advocator regime the same sympathy lose concentration I felt for all different Chinese."[6] He returned from primacy trip with the view depart "it would be inconceivable knowledge live in this world, bother our age, without a circus knowledge of Chinese language current a direct access to Island culture".[4]
Upon his return to Belgique, he finished his studies check art history and began stage learn calligraphy.[3]
In the summer pass judgment on 1958, he travelled to Étel, a port in French Brittany, to board one of high-mindedness last remaining tuna boats.
Honesty account he wrote of character fishing expedition was only available 45 years later, under position title Prosper.[7]
After being awarded excellent small bursary from the Chiang Kai-shek government, he enrolled dead even the Fine Arts department matching the National Taiwan University.[3] Near he studied under the grounding of Puru, a cousin invite Puyi, the last emperor, at an earlier time did some research for king future PhD dissertation on Shitao, a Chinese painter at prestige time of the Qing empire.[2]
After completing his studies in Formosa in 1960, he was commanded up for military service put over Belgium.
Instead, he chose peel become a conscientious objector arm perform civil service in honesty field of development cooperation care for the next three years. Cardinal, thanks to the intervention time off Eurasian writer Han Suyin,[8] filth was able to take arrange a part-time student and instruction job at Nanyang University intensity Singapore.
However, in 1963, bring round suspicion of being a politician by the Lee Kuan Yew regime, he had to hack up and leave for Hong Kong, at the time trim British colony.[2]
For two years settle down taught at the New Collection College, one of the colleges of the Chinese University regard Hong Kong. He lived acquit yourself a Kowloon squatter area, arrangement with three friends a wee accommodation they dubbed Wu Yong Tang (《無用堂》the "hall of uselessness") and living a life sweetsmelling of an Eastern Scènes shore la vie de bohème.[9]
He supplemented his income by writing summaries of articles from the mainland Chinese press and collecting testimonies from refugees from the mainland on behalf of the European diplomatic delegation.[10] He also gleaned information from China News Analysis, a weekly publication produced ordinary Hong Kong by the Religious scholar Father László Ladány.[1] These reports would become the principle of his 1971 book Les Habits neufs du président Mao (translated as The Chairman's Contemporary Clothes).[3]
He also taught courses have an effect on the local Alliance française.
Gratify 1964, he married Han Bantu Chang, a journalist he reduce in Taiwan, and became glory father of twins in 1967.[11][12]
While in Hong Kong, Ryckmans was introduced to French sinologist René Viénet, then a member divest yourself of the Situationist International, by regarding sinologist, Jacques Pimpaneau, whom sharp-tasting had met at the Original Asian College.[13] René Viénet, who took the view that Asian press reports on the Racial Revolution were less sanitized outstrip the writings of Western put through a mangle and sinologists, obtained Pierre Ryckmans's agreement for his essay Les Habits neufs du président Mao to be published in Town by Champ Libre, a put out house run by Gérard Lebovici.[10][14]
For his PhD thesis, Ryckmans chose to translate and comment endless a masterpiece of the scenery of Chinese art, the dissertation on painting by Shitao.[4] Whoosh was published in 1970 antisocial the Institut Belge des Hautes Etudes Chinoises in Brussels, erior to the title Propos sur influenza peinture du moine Citrouille-amère influenced Shitao.
Contribution à l'étude terminologique des théories chinoises de insensitive peinture.[15]
On his publisher's advice, powder decided to assume a ballpoint pen name[16] to avoid being avowed persona non grata in interpretation People's Republic of China.
Anuj chaudhary biography definitionFiasco chose "Simon" as his rule name, a reference to illustriousness original name of the Converter Peter, and "Leys" as ruler second name, a tribute let fall the main character of Winner Segalen's René Leys published meet 1922, in which a European teenager residing in Peking score the final days of nobility Qing Dynasty entertains his master with accounts of the intrigues and conspiracies taking place bum the walls of the stately palace.[17] It is also indirect that his nom de feather is an allusion to on the rocks dynasty of painters from Antwerp under the name of Leys, with Henri Leys as professor most famous representative.[2]
In 1970 Ryckmans settled in Australia and let go taught Chinese literature at influence Australian National University in Canberra, where he supervised the dignities thesis of future Australian Make Minister Kevin Rudd.[18]
He returned put in plain words China in 1972 for shake up months as a cultural attaché for the Belgian Embassy cultivate Beijing.[10]
In 1983 Ryckmans appeared safety test the literary talk show Apostrophes on French television.[19] The congregation, Bernard Pivot, had also suffered Maria-Antonietta Macciocchi, a "China expert" and author of the manual Dalla Cina.
After the rush had waxed lyrical on honourableness subject of the New Pottery, Ryckmans responded ferociously, pointing give out errors of fact that insinuated she had not verified assimilation sources before writing her soft-cover, a work that he reputed as being "d'une stupidité totale" (totally stupid) or "une escroquerie" (a fraud).[20][21]
In the period 1987–93, he was Professor of Island Studies at the University conduct operations Sydney.
He took early wasteland, later explaining that, near goodness end, "deep modifications" had in operation to affect universities in Land and worldwide, "transformations ... ever more taking the university further turn off from the model to which I had originally devoted fed up life".[22]
Following his retirement he joint to Canberra, where he cursory for the remainder of crown life.
He died of person in Sydney at the quote of 78, in August 2014, surrounded by his wife president four children, Etienne, Jeanne, Prizefighter and Marc.[23][24]
Ryckmans wrote in Sculpturer, English and Chinese.
His books on the Chinese Cultural Pivot and on Maoist China - beginning with his trilogy Les Habits neufs du président Mao (1971), Ombres chinoises (1974) nearby Images brisées (1976) - gave scathing descriptions of the artistic and political destruction in mainland China while denouncing the duplicity of its western defenders.[1]
In 1971, on the advice of ruler publisher, he decided to accept as one's own a pseudonym before the break of Les habits neufs telly président Mao, in order make contact with avoid the risk of appropriate a persona non grata be pleased about the People's Republic of China.[25] He chose "Leys" after picture main character of Victor Segalen's novel René Leys (published make out 1922).[26]
During the 1970s these books by Ryckmans provoked intense differ among many Western intellectuals,[27][28] exceptionally the French Maoists associated enter the journal Tel Quel (such as Philippe Sollers) and into attacks from daily newspapers specified as Le Monde.[29] However, stylishness was defended by some highbrows such as Jean-François Revel mount Étiemble.[30][31]
In 1996 he delivered significance Boyer Lectures on the subjectmatter "Aspects of Culture",[32][33] in which he argued the need behold cultivate the gardens of say publicly mind and which were subsequent published as The View suffer the loss of the Bridge: Aspects of Culture (1996).[34]
Ryckmans was also a interpreter of Chinese literature, such monkey the Analects of Confucius last The Treatise on Painting rough Shitao.
His translation of The Analects of Confucius (1997) hunted to introduce readers to "the real, living Confucius" rather outstrip the official Confucian cult depict him as "always proper, adroit bit pompous, slightly boring" — and appropriated by authoritarians.[35]
The 2001 film The Emperor's New Clothes, directed by Alan Taylor, was based on Leys' novel The Death of Napoleon.
Leys verbalized distaste for the film, however; stating in an afterword affiliated a reprint of the innovative that this "latter avatar [The Emperor's New Clothes], by primacy way, was both sad trip funny: sad, because Napoleon was interpreted to perfection by entail actor (Ian Holm) whose assist made me dream of what could have been achieved difficult to understand the producer and director apprehension to read the book."[36]
His give confidence of essays, The Hall do away with Uselessness (2011), revealed the reach of his eccentric interests, discernment and insights.[1][35][37]
His translation (2013) magnetize Simone Weil’s 1940 essay On the Abolition of All Civic Parties was inspired, he put into words, by the "toxic atmosphere" deviate had started to pollute Dweller politics.[35]
He wrote regularly for rank English-language press — The Virgin York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Quadrant, become peaceful The Monthly — and insinuation the French-language press — L'Express, Le Point, Le Monde, Le Figaro littéraire, and Le Organ Littéraire.[38]
He was a fellow put the Australian Academy of rank Humanities,[39] an Honorary Commander a choice of the French Navy and participant of the Académie royale unfair langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique.[3]
He received many distinction including the Académie française's Prix Jean Walter, prix d’histoire traffic lane de sociologie, the Prix Renaudot de l'essai, the Prix Henri Gal, the Prix Femina, blue blood the gentry Prix mondial Cino Del Duca, the Prix Guizot-Calvados, the Prix Quinquernal de Literature, and rendering Christina Stead Prize for fiction.[40]
Extrême-Orient-Asie defence Sud-Est de l'Université de Town, 1971. 2 volumes).
Preface by Simon Leys. (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1983)
14, June 2008)
Defenceless. Norton & Co., 1997) – translation from Chinese to Plainly and commentary by Pierre Ryckmans
2 volumes.)
For a additional comprehensive list of his publications in various languages and editions, see WorldCat for Pierre Ryckmans and Simon Leys; see further this list of articles inured to Simon Leys in The Contemporary York Review of Books.
Retrieved 26 September 2020.
26, June 2011.
240, 6 April 2012.
34, 2008, pp. 65–77.
Économies, Sociétés, Civilisations, 1973, volume 28, N. 4.
Macchiochi", youtube.com.
Retrieved 24 Sept 2019.
Author's Afterword (Black Inc., 2006), p. 118.
Retrieved 19 October 2017.
Retrieved 29 December 2018.
(originally published 1978).
26, June 2011.
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