Who is Jean-Christophe Rufin?
Jean-Christophe Rufin has several hats. And two feet made for walking, as you can see.
He is a French diplomat, historian, novelist and co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). He was the former president of Action Against Hunger and became the second youngest member of the Académie française in 2008. He was Ambassador of France in Senegal from 2007 to June 2010. Jean-Christophe Rufin is also a globetrotter and his exploration of the world is transmitted to the public through his books.
In The Santiago Pilgrimage, translated by Malcolm Imrie & Martina Dervis and published by Quercus, Rufin shares his thoughtful 800km pilgrimage on foot to Santiago de Compostela. As Christopher Howse writes in his review for The Spectator:
"Rufin walks to Santiago, but chooses the northern route from San Sebastian along the coast. He won’t go the ordinary route, from Roncevaux in the Pyrenees along the so-called French Way, partly because it is dull and often haunted by heavy-goods vehicles, but principally because he can’t bear walking with other pilgrims. I’m with him there. They wear shorts and smell (and Rufin dislikes body odour, even his own), and they have gone on pilgrimage for a reason, often to do with an unhappy love life.
Rufin (...) couldn’t bear sleeping in crowded hostels, or rather, not sleeping, for he is insomniac at the best of times and attracts snorers as ailurophobes attract cats. Driven to shelter in a hostel, he is greeted by a cyclist rubbing smelly brown ointment on to smellier callused feet. ‘A certain nasal tone in his voice made me suspect two things: that he was German, which was fine with me, but more importantly that he belonged to the vast international brotherhood of snorers.’ So Rufin carried a light tent and, having sensibly en route posted home his cooking gear to get his pack below three kilos, put up with the nuisance of having to walk two or three miles for his morning coffee."
Come and hear him discuss his voyage of self-discovery with journalist Bee Rowlatt at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Saturday 27 August from 11pm to 12pm ! (>> More info <<) or around a "Café Littéraire" at the Institut Français in Scotland the same day at 6pm (>> More info <<)
More works by Jean-Christophe Rufin published in English
Jean-Christophe Rufin has journeyed to many war-torn regions to administer aid, including Bosnia and Rwanda. These books tell stories that illustrate the author's interest in travelling and the world’s history.
The Abyssinian (published in the UK by Picador in 2000)
Jean-Christophe Rufin yokes the elegant language of the French enlightenment with the storytelling of Alexandre Dumas to create a splendid parable of liberty, religious fanaticism and the possibility of happiness. - See more at: http://www.picador.com/books/the-abyssinian#sthash.z5gCfpoB.dpuf
Brazil Red (Prix Goncourt 2001)
The story of two orphaned children, Just and Colombe, who are dragged off on the French colonizing expeditionthey are meant to learn the native languages and act as interpreters. Everything in this novel is outsized: the setting, a jungle still populated by cannibals; the characters, including Villegagnon, the expedition's eccentric leader, who might be a model for Cyrano or d'Artagnan; and the events, a dress rehearsal for the Wars of Religion ten years in the future. Packed with portraits, landscapes, and action, Brazil Red is a novel about coming of age and discovering love. On a deeper level, the story follows the destinies and decisions of Just and Colombe, presenting two conflicting views of man and nature. On one hand, a conquering European civilization, offering liberation but delivering death. On the other, the Indian world, with its sensuality, its harmony, its sense of the sacred, its continual call to happiness.
The Siege of Isfahan, translated by Willard Wood, published in W. W. Norton & Company (USA)
Twenty years have passed since Jean-Baptiste Poncet's daring mission to the remote and exotic court of the King of Abyssinia. We find him now in Isfahan, capital of Persia, practicing medicine in the court of the Shah. In order to rescue his old friend Juremi, imprisoned in the Urals, Poncet travels in disguise to Russia, where he engages in a diplomatic duel of wits with Peter the Great. The friends, reunited, are captured by nomads and sold as slaves in Afghanistan. This is the beginning of Poncet's circuitous return to Isfahan, where his wife and daughter are trapped by a besieging army of the Afghan king, Mahmud.
The Red Collar, translated by Adriana Hunter, published by Europa Edition (USA)
'In 1919, in a small town in the province of Berry, France, under the sweltering temperatures of summer heat wave, a war hero is being held prisoner in an abandoned barrack. In front of the door to his prison, a mangy dog barks night and day. Miles from where he is being held, in the French countryside, an intelligent young woman works the land, waiting and hoping. And a military investigating officer, whose principles have been sorely shaken by the war, must complete his last assignment before returning home. Three characters. In their midst, a dog holds the key both to their futures and to this intriguing plot. Full of poetry and life, The Red Collar is at once a pleasingly straightforward narrative about the human spirit and a profound work about loyalty and love.'
The Dream Maker, translated by Alison Anderson, published by Europa Edition USA
'Based on the true story of Jacques Coeur, The Dream Maker recounts the life and times of a Steve Jobs of the Middle Ages. Born to a modest fur trader, Coeur rose to become the King of France’s visionary First Banker who, with his tours of the Far East, his criticism of the Crusades, and his efforts to develop trade, contributed to bringing France out of darkness toward the Renaissance and modernity. Coeur was, at one time, the wealthiest man in France, but at the height of his success, disgrace and imprisonment at the hands of his enemies threatened. His ill-considered infatuation with Agnès Sorel, King Charles VII’s favorite mistress, and her mysterious and premature death, precipitated Coeur’s fall from grace. In Rufin’s delicious prose this remarkable true story becomes a gripping tale of adventure, a novel of ideas, and a moving love story.'
Last publication in France
The recent Check-Point (2015) - yet to be translated in English - gives the reader an insight in the world of humanitarian actions. Maud, a 21 year-old girl engaged to volunteer for an NGO, finds herself sent to lead a group of humanitarian volunteers in Bosnia during the War. Through their personal stories and the violent situations they are confronted to, Rufin addresses the contemporary debate about the neutrality of humanitarian actions.