Simon Leys: the red lotus - The Incorrect

The analysis of the totalitarian phenomenon has produced some great classics, very complementary moreover: there is the penetrating philosophical dissertation of Arendt, the fearsome dystopic novel of Orwell or the meticulous prison chronicle of Soljenitsyne. The Chinese Shadows of Simon Leys, reissued by Les Belles Lettres, have all their place in this pantheon, and occupy there, in the manner of the last, the documentary gallery. [...] The sui…