Malaysia

Following the First World War, Lescale sets sail for Malaysia and its rubber plantations. There he finds Rolain, a trench companion who has become a planter in the heart of the jungle, and discovers a harsh, solitary life, punctuated by work, rain, and the silence of the trees. Little by little, the country wins him over.

Henri Fauconnier lived what he recounts: a planter in Selangor from 1905, he had learned Malay and Tamil before writing this novel from memory, once he had returned. He slips pantouns—Malay quatrains—into the work, which he translates himself, and lets the jungle invade the narrative until it becomes the true character.

Awarded the Goncourt in 1930 and praised by Maeterlinck, who said he had read nothing he would have more liked to write, Malaisie is a great book that is forgotten today. Reissuing it means returning it to its readers.

• Author : Henri Fauconnier
• Dimensions : 190 x 125 mm
• Number of pages : 296