Simon Leys

✶September 28, 1935

†August 11, 2014

2 candles burning, 6 lit in all

About their life

Pierre Ryckmans, better known by his pen name Simon Leys, was a Belgian-Australian sinologist and translator. He lived in Australia from 1970. His work particularly focused on the politics and traditional culture of China, calligraphy, French and English literature, the commercialization of universities, and nautical fiction. His trilogy Les Habits neufs du président Mao (1971), Ombres chinoises (1974) and Images brisées (1976) denounced the Cultural Revolution in China and the idolizing of Mao in the West.

Belgian-Australian writer, sinologist and essayist

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Biography from the article Simon Leys on the English Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.