كان عُمر بابيون خمسة وعشرون عامًا عندما حُكم عليه بالسجن مدى الحياة على جريمة لم يرتكبها. بعد محاولات عديدة وفاشلة للهروب استطاع أن ينجو في محاولته الأخيرة. فرّ من السجن بعد إحدى عشرة عامًا من الظلم والمعاناة والتوق للحرية، حيث استطاع بنجاح أن يصل إلى عاصمة غويان الإنجليزية. ومن ثم هرب إلى فنزويلا، حيث استقرّ فيها.

الرواية ملحمة إنسانية مؤثرة ومحفزة للتواقين للحرية، فإذا كنت قد شاهدت الفيلم سابقًا فقد فاتك الكثير، ففي الرواية تقرأ عن أحداث ومعاناة لم ترد في الفيلم.

أسلوب الكاتب رائع، سهل سلس وشيق، كتب بكل انسابية قصة سجنه ومحاولات هروبه. كتب أيضًا قصص سجناء آخرين، سبب سجنهم، معاناتهم من التعذيب في السجون، الجنون الذي أصاب البعض بسبب السجن الإنفرادي، مقتل بعض السجناء سواءً على يد سجناء آخرين أو على يد سجانيهم أو أثناء الهرب. ثقافة وأخلاق أُناس وشعوب عاصرهم وعاش معهم، منهم الطيب ومنهم الشرير.

أحداث مؤلمة وأخرى جميلة ستقرئها في هذه الرواية. من أبشع ما ستقرأ عن السجن الانفرادي الذي كان يُسمّى بسجن آكل الرجال!.

رواية شيقة ومُلهمة عن الحرية والعدالة والظلم والبؤس، التعذيب اللاإنساني الذي يمارسهُ السجّان على أخيه الإنسان.




اقتباسات…




“أدانتني المحكمة وأنا بريء..!”.

“لقد حولني قمع العدالة إلى رقّاص ساعة، فالذهاب والإياب في الزنزانة هما كل عالمي”.

“ليس من حق الشعب أن ينتقم في صورة سريعة أو أن يخلع الأشخاص الذين أساؤوا إلى المجتمع، فهؤلاء الأشخاص أولى بالعناية بدلًا من معاقبتهم بصورة لا إنسانية”.

“الناس الصرحاء الذين لا يراؤون وهم على درجة حسنة من التربية الحضارية، تكون ردود الفعل عندهم عفوية، وسرعان ما يبدو عليهم الفرح أو الحزن، السرور أو الغم، الاهتمام أو اللامبالاة”.

“لم أستطع أن أتحمل أو أتصور أن بلدًا مثل بلدي فرنسا أم الحرية في العالم أجمع، الأرض التي أنبتت حقوق الإنسان والمواطن، كيف أمكن مع ذلك أن تقيم في غويان، فوق جزيرة ضائعة في الأطلسي لا تزيد مساحتها على رقعة منديل، بربرية زجرية، مثل الانفرادي في سان جوزف”.

“انعموا بالنوم الهادئ أيها الجبناء الذين حكمتم علي. انعموا بالنوم، وأظن أنكم لو علمتم مآلي لرفضتم وترعرعتم عن أن تكونوا من طالبوا بتطبيق مثل هذه العقوبة”.

“احذر نظرة منك كاذبة أن تحسب السجّان إنسانًا سَوِيًّا. إن ينتسب إنسان إلى هذه المجموعة فليس جديرًا بهذه التسمية. وقد يعتاد المرء على كل شيء في هذه الحياة حتى الدناءة قد يجعل منها ديدنه. ولا يرعوي إلا إذا دنا من القبر وخشي ربّه إن كان ديّناً فيمسي خاشعًا نادمًا. لا لأن ضميره يؤنبه بل لأنه يخاف أن يحاسبه به على ما جنت يداه وأن الله هو الحاكم الذي سيحاكمه”.

“أقول بكل إخلاص: إنني أفضل أن أكون مجرمًا على أن أكون سجّانًا”.

“الحياة، الحياة، الحياة، هذا ما يجب أن يكون مذهبي الأوحد”.

“عليّ أن أحلم وأن أحلّق في جو الخيال قدر المستطاع مختارًا الأفكار السعيدة حتى أبعد عن نفسي شبح الجنون”.

“الحياة، الحياة، الحياة. عليّ أن أردّد كلمة الأمل هذه ثلاثًا، كلما شعرت بالاستسلام إلى اليأس، لا يأس مع الحياة”.

I was disappointed with this one. I added it based on memory of the old 70's classic starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman and maybe for that reason my expectations were too high.

There were a couple of intense parts to the story, so I will at least give this a 2, but overall, the story ran on, seeming to repeat itself with similar encounters. The translation may be to blame, but I thought the writing was amateurish. Henri Charriere was writing about his own encounter in escaping the French prisons, several times, but his telling felt like someone exaggerating the facts and bragging about their exploits.

What I got out of this; yes, the conditions in this prison system were horrible, inhuman, but that doesn't excuse the fact that Papillon was a criminal and a murderer. Just because he managed multiple escapes, many by committing murder, does not make him a figure to be admired.

Henri Charrière, nicknamed Papillon because of the tattoo on his chest, is sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder he claims not to have committed. He was sent to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, where he escaped with two other convicts. This time is where his incredible adventure begins.
This fact makes up several different facets. First, it understands moments of indescribable joy, especially during the beginnings of successful runs with her companions of fortune. These moments often take place aboard a boat or a makeshift boat.
There are also moments of doubt when he feels abandoned by this God whom he gets to know throughout history through religious characters who help him in all his journeys to keep the faith and believe that anything is possible. And yet, despite all these difficulties, he always regains hope.
In this story, Papillon encounters moments when he is facing and obliged to tap into an indispensable moral strength and extraordinary power not to go mad or commit suicide. Moreover, during his years in prison, he developed unique methods to maintain more or less correct health, especially during his two years of imprisonment. Papillon is also used to rationing since he has to impose it on himself several times in the book, whether to stay alive in dark dungeons or on a makeshift boat.
This work also features breathtaking landscapes, disturbing, warm surroundings, and moments of relief and pain.
Finally, the most beautiful part of this book is all the encounters between Papi and the locals, the guards, the other convicts, and the authorities. He gives the impression of adaptability and is extremely friendly because he meets people who want to help him wherever he goes. These people are often impoverished, have also been in prison, or are very sick, but they always do their best to help Papillon go on the run or get a new life. He also meets a few suspicious people who denounce or try to kill him, but he always gets by and goes his way.
I will conclude with my opinion of this book. Papillon has made me vibrate throughout its history. At times, the suspense was breathless, and I recommend this biography to any lover of good adventure novels.
However, I was very disappointed by what I discovered while reading this book because it is an autobiography of Henri Charrière called into question. It proved that it is, in particular, a collection of stories that have happened to other convicts who have known Papillon.
Therefore, it fails to be an entirely true story that made me spend delightful moments.

I was recently reminded of this book, which I loved, back in the day. How could I have missed adding it to my books? I have since been exposed to similarly graphic stories (news, fiction, tv, films), but it was a shocking eye-opener to me then.

I also remember being surprised some years later how well the film portrayed the events and characters and setting the way I'd imagined them.

I don't plan to revisit the book or the film - I'll stick to my memories.

بابليون الفراشة الباحثة عن النور عن الحرية بعد أن فقدها على إثر جريمة فقد على إثرها حياته بالحكم عليه بالسجن المؤبد في سجون فرنسا التي مارست أبشع أنواع الإضطهاد ضد المحكومين , بابي ذا النفس المتمردة والرافضة للخضوع لا ينفك يفكر في الهروب لتحقيق حلمه بالحرية , لاينفك يحلم بالإنتقام ممن كانوا سببا في وقوعه في هذه المحنة القاسية التي حرمته من عائلته وهو في مقتبل العمر , يقوم بابي بتسعة محاولات للهروب من سجانه تعرض بعد كل منها لعقاب لايمكن أن يوصف , كل الأهوال التي عاشها بابي ومنها فقده للأصدقاء إما بالموت تحت التعذيب أو في محاولات الهروب اليائسة لم تفقده الشجاعة ولا الرغبة الجامحة في أن يعود إلى المجتمع ويتعامل معه كإنسان بعد أن سلك طريق العالم السفلي في باريس حيث عاش حياةالبؤس والمعاملة اللا إنسانية هذه بالفعل نموذج للرواية التي تخطف الأنفاس , قرأتها بشغف ومحبة لهذه الشخصية التي أسرتني بقوة الإرادة والقوة والرجولة والكفاح
سيرة حياة و تجربة إنسانية تستحق القراءة وكتبت بأسلوب أدبي رفيع : )
لقد شحنني بكمية لا يستهان بها من قوة الإرادة

After watching the 1973 film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, I decided to read the autobiographical novel by Henri Charrière, Papillon. An inspiring story of a person's quest for freedom, of strength of spirit and belief in oneself.

By the way, while reading Papillon, I noticed that Stephen King's passage in Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption from 1982, "I asked for permission for 40 years. I couldn't squeeze out a drop without asking," miraculously resembles the one in Charrière's novel from 1969.

I had a hard time to believe a lot of the stuff in this memoir and was hardly surprised when I read that a lot of it was actually invented or had in reality happened not to Charrière but to his inmates.

Papillon was interesting as a narrative novel transmitting a message about the French punitive system back at that time, but even though Charrière could almost get philisophical at times, I personally couldn't get myself to like him at all and the plot was repetitive.
Charrière seemed rather full of himself and the moment he entered prison, he immediately got in contact with potential later break companions and planned out in his head who he would have to kill to get his revenge.
From there, everyone who disagreed with him in some way was evil and the rest of the world always seemed eager to help him escape. Too black and white for my taste.

You might very well enjoy this book as a work of fiction, but it was just not for me.

Bu kitabın insanı saran, gözleri bozana dek bırakmadan okuma hissi uyandıran atmosferinin yanı sıra; gerek olay akışının içine okuru hapsedişi, gerekse de yer yer karşımıza çıkan mizah anlayışıyla da romancılık açısından iyi bir kitap olduğunu gösteriyor bence.
İnsanın doğuştan iyi ve adaletli olduğu varsayımına inanan insanların güçlükle okuyacağı kitabın satır aralarında insançocuğunun gerçek yüzü; toplumda inşa edilen sözde adalet, küçük insanların küçük çıkar çatışmaları ve hesaplaşmaları da okunabilir.
Okumamın üzerinden geçen sekiz yıla rağmen bende hala güzel bir yeri olan, nadide bir kitap.

16/6 - Knowing nothing about this book or Charrière, only knowing the word papillon and it's English translation through the fact that there's a dog breed that's called papillon because the dog's fluffy ears (vaguely) resemble a butterfly's wings, I picked this up off the 'new and recently returned' shelf because the blurb on the back described it as "A classic memoir of prison breaks and adventure". And 'adventure' sounded like the right genre for me at that moment in time. I read the translator's introduction last night and I'm looking forward to reading a big chunk of it tonight. To be continued...

19/6 - I don't recommend reading this book if you have a strong sense of injustice, you may get the near-uncontrollable need to stab something. I like to midnight-snack while I do my nightly reading and in a number of places over the last hundred pages I found myself rage-eating my chips - just shovelling them in, too angry with the injustice of Henri's situation to enjoy them. Usually I eat them slowly, one or two per page, savouring them so that I don't accidentally eat a whole bag in one night, something which I could easily have done while reading this book last night. To be continued...

Later - I'm a bit disappointed with Charrière's description of his encounter with the lepers. He talks about a man who hands him a cup of coffee and then exclaims "Oh, where's my finger gone?". Henri finds it stuck to the outside of his cup and hands it back to him. According to Wikipedia this sequence is impossible, leprosy, despite all the old wives' tales, does not lead to body parts falling off here, there and everywhere. This next passage is taken straight from Wikipedia's page on leprosy

"Initially, infections are without symptoms and typically remain this way for 5 to as long as 20 years. Symptoms that develop include granulomas (loosely described as 'a small nodule') of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This may result in a lack of ability to feel pain and thus loss of parts of extremities due to repeated injuries. Weakness and poor eyesight may also be present.

To reiterate, the loss of body parts happens because of repeated injuries to these body parts, which have become numbed due to granulomas of the nerves. There is no "Oh, my finger just fell off.", it's more like "Oops, I just accidentally chopped my finger off while chopping the carrots, but due to the granulomas it doesn't actually hurt." Below is a second passage taken straight from Wikipedia rephrasing what I've just written, only coming from a more official source.

"Leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions (light or dark patches) are the primary external sign. If untreated, leprosy can progress and cause permanent damage to the skin, nerves, limbs, and eyes. Contrary to folklore, leprosy does not cause body parts to fall off, although they can become numb or diseased as a result of secondary infections; these occur as a result of the body's defences being compromised by the primary disease. Secondary infections, in turn, can result in tissue loss causing fingers and toes to become shortened and deformed, as cartilage is absorbed into the body."

So, therefore that part of the scene must be a figment of Charrière's imagination as that man's finger cannot have just come off without some kind of trauma happening to it first. Silly little exaggerations (possibly playing to the public's horrified fascination with the disease and the people who suffer from it) like that could lead to a reader doubting half of what Charrière has written in this book (some of it is pretty fantastical). I don't like feeling that what Charrière has written isn't completely true. I want it all to be true, not because I want anyone to have been through what Charrière went through (and I'm only 21% of the way through), but because I want to know that it's not all made up. That his main motive for writing this tale of injustice wasn't to make a pile of cash, but to let the world know of what he went through. To be continued...

20/6 - Why oh why, Henri, did you leave those lovely Goajira 'Indians'? You had everything you needed, not one but two loving wives both pregnant with your child (not a comment on the fact that one of the wives was not much more than 12, or that the two girls were sisters, just a comment on what he had and what he left behind); you had a community who accepted and revered you. You had an idyllic island paradise life, what more could you want? Deciding not to go back for revenge doesn't make you weak, it just means you've found something more important, something worth living for, which you didn't have when you first visualised getting your revenge on all the people who were involved in your imprisonment. Now look what's happened, you've been recaptured and as you pointed out that mistake will cost you seven years of your life. Imagine how your life could have gone if you had just stayed with Lali and Zoraima. To be continued...

24/6 - This is such a dense book! There are so many words per page, with so few paragraphs that it's really slowing down my normal reading speed. Normally, when I'm enjoying a book as much as I'm enjoying this one I look down and am amazed to have read 50 pages in half an hour, with this book I look down and find I've only read 10 pages. Like I said, I'm enjoying the story, but I don't want to be reading it for the rest of my life, I do have other books that I want to get to that I may well enjoy even more than this (plus library due dates are looming). To be continued...

25/6 - Deceptions and misleading blurbs are the name of the day today. First it turns out that GR has been fudging the page count, it's not 688 as I was originally led to believe it's 560 followed by numerous pages of 'extras' including an 'exclusive essay by Howard Marks'. I think I'm pleased that I've only got 120 pages to go instead of 240 as I'm feeling the pressure from my other books' library due dates and this really is taking a long while to read.

The blurb on the back of my book reads as follows:

"Condemned for a murder he did not commit, Henri Charrière, known as Papillon, was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. Recaptured, his spirit remained untamed - in thirteen years he made nine amazingly daring escapes, including one from the notorious Devil's Island.

An immediate sensation upon its 1969 publication, Papillon is one of the greatest adventure stories ever told, a true tale of courage, resilience and an unbreakable will."

"...Nine amazingly daring escapes..." That is a very misleading statement. From what the blurb says I was expecting Papillon to escape (by which I mean, and thought everyone else meant, leave his jail/cage/penal colony for at least 24 hours before being recaptured) on nine different occasions. What the blurb really means is that he attempts to escape nine times, he only succeeds twice, the first attempt when he managed to stay out for 11 months and the final, which I'm currently in the middle of. To be continued...

26/6 - Finally finished it! *relieved sigh* I've currently got this shelved as an autobiography/biography, but I hesitate to leave it there. Modern researchers don't believe Charrière's continual claims of complete honesty regarding his book. They now say that it's very likely the book is a combination of other inmate's adventures and Charrière's imagination. According to all available records Charrière never spent any time on Devil's Island, and like with the leprosy situation I described above he got a number of pertinent details regarding the geography of Devil's Island wrong (he describes the shore of the island as rocky, when in fact it is a gently sloping sand beach, it's not like that's something that he could 'forget'). A French journalist maintains that only "10% of Papillon represents the truth".

Learning that a book like this is pretty much just a well-imagined adventure story in the vein of Robinson Crusoe or Treasure Island takes a bit of the shine off story. It's no longer as fantastically amazing because it's not real. I went into the reading of this book believing that it was a true story and I am certainly disappointed to come to the conclusion that there's very little truth to be found anywhere in the book. After reading all that back to check for errors before posting I realise that I can't leave it on the autobiography/biography shelf, I know it's not one so it doesn't belong next to my biographies of Katherine Parr or Jamie Oliver. It's moving to the historical fiction shelf.

What a story! Papillon is an autobiographical novel about a man who in 1931 was charged with killing someone (of course, the author claims he was innocent) and he was sentenced to a life of hard labor at a penal colony in French Guiana.

After many weeks of planning, he managed to escape on a raft and sailed hundreds of miles to Colombia. He spent several months living happily in a fishing village -- with not one but two wives! -- but he was eventually picked up by the authorities and sent back to prison. He tried many other escape attempts, but it wasn't until 1941 that he managed to escape again by sea, floating away on a sack of coconuts. Yes, a sack of coconuts.

Papillon, a nickname referencing the French word for butterfly, is a wonderful storyteller and the book is filled with his adventures. I can understand why this book was a huge bestseller when it was published in 1969; it is compulsively readable and the stories are memorable. Like any great storyteller, the author comes across as so clever and heroic that you wonder how much is exaggerated, but you also don't care because you're enjoying it too much.

I wavered a bit on my 4* rating but in the end I decided it's such a great adventure that I'm sure I won't forget - so four stars it is. I've seen in other review there is some question in the authenticity, (and I did think that some of Papillon's adventures were over-the-top, especially making it so far in the sea on coconuts!) but I guess I don't care because it is great storytelling. I do think some of the book is a bit repetitive and a bit long but overall I really enjoyed it. Now I really have to watch the movie (I want to see the original and then the remake).

Las memorias y libros autobiográficos a menudo ofrecen historias tan fantásticas que cuesta creer que ocurrieron en verdad. Las historias de fugas de la cárcel y de individuos de voluntad inquebrantable que se enfrentan al sistema siempre me atrajeron, y cuando uno combina eso con islas lejanas y exóticas, aventura y peligro constante, ¿Qué más se puede pedir?
Papillon-un delincuente francés que no era exactamente un santo, ni mucho menos (cuando estalla la Segunda Guerra Mundial, aclara de entrada que no tenía ningún aprecio por su país ni interés en pelear contra los alemanes, por ejemplo)-es condenado a cadena perpetua en la colonia de la Guayana Francesa, un lugar que Francia juzgó adecuado para sacarse de encima a sus peores criminales, así como Inglaterra eligió Australia un siglo atrás. Eso de enviar a los presos peligrosos muy pero muy lejos, y en particular a islas, parece ser una constante a lo largo de la historia.
Sabía que se hizo una película, que fue muy famosa, basada en este libro, pero no la he visto. La prosa, obviamente, no es la de un escritor profesional y eso se nota. Pero el autor lo compensa con 500 páginas trepidantes donde se narra su derrotero de un sitio a otro y sus constantes fugas e intentos de fuga. ¿Es 100% verídico? Dudoso, porque a diferencia de otros relatos, como "Viven", Papillon cuenta su historia en soledad y cubre más de una década. La tentación de añadir anécdotas sabrosas o pintarse a sí mismo mejor de lo que era en realidad debe haber sido muy fuerte. Pero ello no quita que sea un gran libro y una gran contribución al género de las fugas carcelarias y las aventuras.