''Papillon'' (, "butterfly") is a fantastical novel written by
Henri Charrière
Henri Charrière (; 16 November 1906 – 29 July 1973) was a French writer, convicted in 1931 as a murderer by the French courts and pardoned in 1970. He wrote the novel '' Papillon'', a memoir of his incarceration in and escape from a pena ...
, first published in France on 30 April 1969. ''Papillon'' is Charrière's nickname.
[ The novel details ''Papillon's'' purported incarceration and subsequent escape from the French penal colony of ]French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
, and covers a 14-year period between 1931 and 1945.
Synopsis
The book is an account of a 14-year period in Papillon's life (October 26, 1931 to October 18, 1945), beginning when he was wrongly convicted of murder in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and sentenced to a life of hard labor at the ''Bagne de Cayenne'', the penal colony of Cayenne in French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
known as Devil's Island. He eventually escaped from the colony and settled in Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, where he lived and prospered.
After a brief stay at a prison in Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,[South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...]
, where he learned about the brutal life that prisoners endured at the prison colony. Violence and murders were common among the convicts. Men were attacked for many reasons, including money, which most kept in a ''charger'' (a hollow metal cylinder concealed in the rectum; also known as a ''plan d'evasion'', ''plan'', or "escape suppository"). Papillon befriended Louis Dega
Louis Dega (sometimes written Louis Delga) is the name of a character in Henri Charrière's novel '' Papillon''. In the 1973 film this character was played by Dustin Hoffman and in the 2017 film the role was played by Rami Malek. Purportedly an ...
, a former banker convicted of counterfeiting. He agreed to protect Dega from attackers trying to get his charger.
Upon arriving at the penal colony, Papillon claimed to be ill and was sent to the infirmary. There he collaborated with two men, Clousiot and André Maturette
André Maturette (born 1914) was a prisoner in the French Guiana prison colony of Devil's Island who attempted to escape with Henri Charrière and Joanes Clousiot.
Biography
Maturette was born in France and was arrested in 1932 when he was seven ...
, to escape from the prison. They planned to use a sailboat acquired with the help of the associated leper colony
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy. '' M. leprae'', the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Af ...
at Pigeon Island (Saint Lucia)
Pigeon Island is a islet located in Gros Islet in the northern region of Saint Lucia. Once isolated from the country in the Caribbean Sea, the island was artificially joined to the western coast of mainland in 1972 by a man-made causeway built ...
. The Maroni River
The Maroni or Marowijne (french: link=no, Maroni, nl, Marowijne, Sranan Tongo: ''Marwina-Liba'') is a river in South America that forms the border between French Guiana and Suriname.
Course
The Maroni runs through the Guianan moist forest ...
carried them to the Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
, and they sailed to the northwest, reaching Trinidad.
In Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
the trio were joined by three other escapees; they were aided by a British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
family, the Dutch bishop of Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
, and several others. Nearing the Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
n coastline, the escapees were sighted. The wind died and they were captured and imprisoned again.
In Colombian prison, Papillon joined with another prisoner to escape. Some distance from the prison, the two went their separate ways. Papillon entered the Guajira peninsula
The Guajira Peninsula ( es, Península de La Guajira, links=no, also spelled ''Goajira'', mainly in colonial period texts, guc, Hikükariby) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the northernm ...
, a region dominated by Amerindians
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the Ame ...
. He was assimilated into a coastal village whose specialty was pearl diving
Pearl hunting, also known as pearling, is the activity of recovering pearls from wild molluscs, usually oysters or mussels, in the sea or freshwater. Pearl hunting was prevalent in the Persian Gulf region and Japan for thousands of years. On the ...
. There he married two teenage sisters and impregnated both. After spending several months in relative paradise, Papillon decided to seek vengeance against those who had wronged him.
Soon after leaving the village, Papillon was captured and imprisoned at Santa Marta
Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...
, then transferred to Barranquilla
Barranquilla () is the capital district of Atlántico Department in Colombia. It is located near the Caribbean Sea and is the largest city and third port in the Caribbean Coast region; as of 2018 it had a population of 1,206,319, making it Col ...
. There, he was reunited with Clousiot and Maturette. Papillon made numerous escape attempts from this prison, all of which failed. He was eventually extradited to French Guiana.
As punishment, Papillon was sentenced to two years of solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
on Île Saint-Joseph
The Salvation Islands (french: Îles du Salut, so called because the missionaries went there to escape plague on the mainland; sometimes mistakenly called Safety Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about off the coast of Fre ...
(an island in the Îles du Salut
The Salvation Islands (french: Îles du Salut, so called because the missionaries went there to escape plague on the mainland; sometimes mistakenly called Safety Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about off the coast of Fre ...
group, 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the French Guiana coast). Clousiot and Maturette were given the same sentence. Upon his release, Papillon was transferred to Royal Island
The Salvation Islands (french: Îles du Salut, so called because the missionaries went there to escape plague on the mainland; sometimes mistakenly called Safety Islands) are a group of small islands of volcanic origin about off the coast of Fre ...
(also an island in the Îles du Salut group). An escape attempt was foiled by an informant (whom Papillon stabbed to death). Papillon had to endure another 19 months of solitary confinement. His original sentence of eight years was reduced after Papillon risked his life to save a girl caught in shark-infested waters.
After French Guiana officials decided to support the pro-Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
Vichy Regime
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...
, the penalty for escape attempts was death, or capital punishment. Papillon decided to feign insanity in order to be sent to the asylum on Royal Island. Insane prisoners could not be sentenced to death for any reason, and the asylum was not as heavily guarded as Devil's Island. He collaborated on another escape attempt but it failed; the other prisoner drowned when their boat was destroyed against rocks. Papillon nearly died as well.
Papillon returned to the regular prisoner population on Royal Island after being "cured" of his mental illness. He asked to be transferred to Devil's Island
The penal colony of Cayenne ( French: ''Bagne de Cayenne''), commonly known as Devil's Island (''Île du Diable''), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953 in the Salvation Islands ...
, the smallest and considered the most "inescapable" island in the Îles de Salut group. Papillon studied the waters and discovered possibilities at a rocky inlet surrounded by a high cliff. He noticed that every seventh wave was large enough to carry a floating object far enough out into the sea that it would drift toward the mainland. He experimented by throwing sacks of coconuts into the inlet.
He found another prisoner to accompany him, a pirate named Sylvain. He had sailed in southeast Asia, where he was known to raid ships, killing everyone aboard for their money and goods. The two men jumped into the inlet, using sacks of coconuts for flotation. The seventh wave carried them out into the ocean. After days of drifting under the relentless sun, surviving on coconut pulp, they made landfall at the mainland. Sylvain sank in quicksand after having abandoned his coconut sack.
On the mainland, Papillon encountered Cuic Cuic, who had built a hut on an "island". The hut was set on solid ground surrounded by quicksand; Cuic Cuic depended on a pig to find the safe route over the quicksand. The men and the pig made their way to Georgetown, British Guiana
Georgetown is the capital and largest city of Guyana. It is situated in Demerara-Mahaica, region 4, on the Atlantic Ocean coast, at the mouth of the Demerara River. It is nicknamed the "Garden City of the Caribbean." It is the retail, administra ...
, by boat. Papillon decided to continue to the northwest in the company of five other escapees. Reaching Venezuela, the men were captured and imprisoned at mobile detention camps in the vicinity of El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
, a small mining town near the Gran Sabana
La Gran Sabana (, en, The Great Savanna) is a region in southeastern Venezuela, part of the Guianan savanna ecoregion.
The savanna spreads into the regions of the Guiana Highlands and south-east into Bolívar State, extending further to the bo ...
region. Surviving harsh conditions there, and finding diamonds, Papillon was eventually released. He gained Venezuelan citizenship and celebrity status a few years later.
The impact of ''Papillon''
The book was an immediate sensation and bestseller, achieving widespread fame and critical acclaim. Upon publication it spent 21 weeks as number 1 bestseller in France, with more than 1.5 million copies sold in France alone. 239 editions of the book have since been published worldwide, in 21 different languages.
The book was first published in France by Robert Laffont
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
in 1969, and first published in Great Britain by Rupert Hart-Davis
Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis (28 August 1907 – 8 December 1999) was an English publisher and editor. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his ''Hugh Walpole'' (1952), as an editor, f ...
in 1970, with an English translation by Patrick O'Brian
Patrick O'Brian, Order of the British Empire, CBE (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of sea novels set in the Royal Navy during t ...
. The book was adapted for a Hollywood film of the same name in 1973, starring Steve McQueen
Terrence Stephen McQueen (March 24, 1930November 7, 1980) was an American actor. His antihero persona, emphasized during the height of the counterculture of the 1960s, made him a top box-office draw for his films of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1 ...
and Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
, as well as another in 2017, starring Charlie Hunnam
Charles Matthew Hunnam (; born 10 April 1980) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Pete Dunham in ''Green Street Hooligans'' (2005) and as Jax Teller in the FX series ''Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–2014). For the latter, he was ...
and Rami Malek
Rami Said Malek (; , ; born May 12, 1981) is an American actor. He is known for portraying computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series ''Mr. Robot'' (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...
. Charrière also published a sequel to ''Papillon'', called ''Banco
Banco may refer to:
Places
* Banc (Barcelona Metro), also called Banco, a closed metro stop on the Barcelona metro
* Banco, Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco National Park, a nation ...
'', in 1973.
''Papillon'' has been described as "The greatest adventure story of all time" (Auguste Le Breton
Auguste Le Breton (born Auguste Monfort 18 February 1913 – 31 May 1999) was a French novelist who wrote primarily about the criminal underworld. His novels were adapted into several notable films of the 1950s, such as ''Rififi'', ''Razzia su ...
) and "A modern classic of courage and excitement" (Janet Flanner
Janet Flanner (March 13, 1892 – November 7, 1978) was an American writer and pioneering narrative journalist who served as the Paris correspondent of ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1925 until she retired in 1975.Yagoda, Ben ''About T ...
, ''The New Yorker'').
Autobiographical authenticity
Although Charrière maintained, until his death in 1973, that events in the book were truthful (allowing for minor lapses in memory), questions have been raised about its accuracy. French journalist Gérard de Villiers
Gérard de Villiers (; 8 December 1929 – 31 October 2013) was a French writer, journalist and publisher whose ''SAS'' series of spy novels have been major bestsellers.
Life
Born in Paris in 1929, Villiers was the son of playwright Jacques Ad ...
, author of ''Papillon Épinglé'' (Butterfly Pinned), said "only about 10 per cent of Charrière's book represents the truth".
Charrière reportedly had a reputation as a great storyteller, and critics have suggested that ''Papillon'' is more about a fictional character than the author. Charrière maintained his account was essentially true, and that he told the story to a professional writer who drafted it in final form. The publisher, Robert Laffont
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
said the work was submitted to him as a novel. Laffont specialised in publishing true adventures, and he persuaded Charrière to release the book as an autobiography.
As well as claims that not all events and jails which Charrière describes correspond to the time frame of events in the book, there are also similarities between sections of ''Papillon'', and sections of a book written 30 years earlier; ''La Guillotine Sèche'' (''Dry Guillotine
Dry Guillotine is the English translation of the French phrase ''la guillotine sèche'', which was prisoner slang for the Devil's Island penal colony at French Guiana. It is also the title of several articles by various authors and most notably, a ...
''). ''Dry Guillotine'', written by René Belbenoît
Jules René Lucien Belbenoît (; 4 April 1899 – 25 February 1959) was a French prisoner on Devil's Island who successfully escaped to the United States. He later published the memoirs, ''Dry Guillotine'' (1938) and ''Hell on Trial'' (1940), a ...
, was published in 1938, and was also an autobiographical account of Belbenoît's incarceration on, and escape from, the French penal colony in French Guiana. The most notable similarities between these books were:
* Both authors described similar encounters with Goajira Indians. Belbenoît and Charrière both stated that they had, whilst escaping from the French penal colony, met and lived with tribes of Goajira Indians who lived on the Guajira Peninsula
The Guajira Peninsula ( es, Península de La Guajira, links=no, also spelled ''Goajira'', mainly in colonial period texts, guc, Hikükariby) is a peninsula in northern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela in the Caribbean. It is the northernm ...
. Both also stated they had taken Indian wives during these periods.
* Both authors also related a story about a group of escapers who had turned to cannibalism to survive. Whilst not necessarily unusual in itself, both authors also told how one member of the group of escapers had had a wooden leg, and that he had been killed and eaten by the group of escapers, and that his wooden leg has been used as a spit, or as kindling, for the cooking fire. Whilst Belbenoît stated in his book that he had been part of the group of escapers that had turned to cannibalism, Charrière related the story as having happened to a group of other inmates who were incarcerated in the French penal colony at the time of his stay.
However, some aspects of Charrière's novel are undoubtedly true:
* That French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...
operated as a penal colony
A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...
from 1852 until 1946. Those transported there ranged from political detainees to those convicted of crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and smaller petty crimes. Anyone receiving a sentence of more than eight years was exiled from France for life.
* That conditions at the penal colony were extremely severe – "Forty per cent of new arrivals to the colony perished within the first year. Of the 80,000 or so who were transported during the colony's 94-year existence, few made it back to France. Most were killed by the merciless nature of the forced labour, the poor diet, and lack of protection from the myriad diseases rampant in the unfamiliar tropical environment. Many died during escape attempts, savaged by wild animals, ravaged by scurvy, or picked off by professional escaper hunters – or in the case of sea-bound escapes, drowned or were eaten by the sharks that infest the coastal waters."
* Charrière was born in the Ardèche
Ardèche (; oc, Ardecha; frp, Ardecha) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.[Charles Brunier
Charles Brunier (31 May 1901 – 26 January 2007) was a French convicted murderer and veteran of both the First and Second World Wars
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that las ...]
, who was imprisoned along with Charrière, claimed that the events in ''Papillon'' were largely based on his own story.
Adaptations
* '' Papillon'' (1973), film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Franklin James Schaffner (May 30, 1920July 2, 1989) was an American film, television, and stage director. He won an Academy Award for Best Director for ''Patton'' (1970), and is known for the films ''Planet of the Apes'' (1968), ''Nicholas and Al ...
* '' Papillon'' (2017), film directed by Michael Noer, based on novels ''Papillon'' and ''Banco
Banco may refer to:
Places
* Banc (Barcelona Metro), also called Banco, a closed metro stop on the Barcelona metro
* Banco, Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Banco National Park, a nation ...
''
* Italian comics artist Carlos Pedrazzini adapted ''Papillon'' into a comic book, published by El Tony.
Editions
* (560 pages; English; paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) book ...
; published by Harper Perennial; July 1, 2001)
* (566 pages; English; hardcover; published by Hart-Davis Macgibbon Ltd; January, 1970)
* (250 pages; English; large-print hardcover; published by Ulverscroft Large Print; October, 1976)
* (English; school and library binding; published by Rebound by Sagebrush; August, 2001)
* (English; audio cassette; published by Books on Tape, Inc.; March 1, 1978)
See also
* Rene Belbenoit, Devil's Island convict and author of ''Dry Guillotine, Fifteen Years Among The Living Dead'' (1938)
* Charles Brunier
Charles Brunier (31 May 1901 – 26 January 2007) was a French convicted murderer and veteran of both the First and Second World Wars
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that las ...
, Devil's Island convict with a butterfly tattoo, who in 2005 claimed to have been the inspiration for ''Papillon''
* Clément Duval
Clément Duval (; 1850–1935) was a famous French anarchist and criminal. His ideas concerning individual reclamation were greatly influential in later shaping illegalism. According to Paul Albert, "The story of Clement Duval was lifted and, shor ...
, Devil's Island escapee and memoirist whose story was also said to have inspired ''Papillon''
References
External links
*
* interview by Marie-Claude Wrenn
* A contemporary look at the then functioning "Devil's Island" during Henri's time there.
* Article which refutes some claims made by Charrière in the book.
*Articles published in ''O Rebate'' which deny Charrière's, account:
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{{Authority control
1969 French novels
French autobiographical novels
Memoirs of imprisonment
Novels set in South America
French novels adapted into films
Books adapted into comics
Novels adapted into comics
Devil's Island
Books about French Guiana