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 is also a translator of Chinese literature, such as the Analects of Confucius, and The Treatise on Painting by Shi Tao. He writes 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, 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."
Read more about this topic: Pierre Ryckmans
Famous quotes containing the word works:
“We all agree now—by “we” I mean intelligent people under sixty—that a work of art is like a rose. A rose is not beautiful because it is like something else. Neither is a work of art. Roses and works of art are beautiful in themselves. Unluckily, the matter does not end there: a rose is the visible result of an infinitude of complicated goings on in the bosom of the earth and in the air above, and similarly a work of art is the product of strange activities in the human mind.”
—Clive Bell (1881–1962)
“I divide all literary works into two categories: Those I like and those I don’t like. No other criterion exists for me.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“One of the surest evidences of an elevated taste is the power of enjoying works of impassioned terrorism, in poetry, and painting. The man who can look at impassioned subjects of terror with a feeling of exultation may be certain he has an elevated taste.”
—Benjamin Haydon (1786–1846)