Pierre Ryckmans wrote that he was requested to use a pseudonym before the publication of Les habits neufs du président Mao in 1971. He chose "Leys" after the main character of Victor Segalen's novel René Leys'' (published in 1922).
Ryckmans wrote a series of famous books about Chinese Cultural Revolution. He is also a translator of Chinese literature, such as the Analects of Confucius, and The Treatise on Painting by Shi Tao. Pierre Ryckmans writes in French and English.
Bibliography
* Shitao's Les propos sur la peinture du moine Citrouille-amère (translation and comments, 1970) * La vie et l'oeuvre de Su Renshan, rebelle, peintre et fou (1971). * Les habits neufs du président Mao (The Chairman's new clothes: Mao and the cultural revolution, 1971) * Ombres chinoises (Chinese Shadows, 1976) * Images brisées (1976) * Human rights in China (1979) * Broken Images (1981) * Orwell, ou l'horreur de la politique (1984) * La forêt en feu: Essais sur la culture et la politique chinoises (The burning forest: Essays on Chinese culture and politics) (1987) * La Mort de Napoléon (The Death of Napoleon, 1986) * L'humeur, l'honneur, l'horreur: Essais sur la culture et la politique chinoises (1991) * Analects of Confucius (translation, 1997) * Essais sur la Chine (Laffont, 1998, coll. "Bouquins") * L'Ange et le Cachalot (1998) * The Angel and the Octopus (collected essays 1983-1998, published February 1999) ISBN 1875989447 * Protée et autres essais (2001, was awarded the 2001 Prix Renaudot de l'Essai) * Deux années sur le gaillard d'avant (2002) * Les Naufragés du Batavia (The Wreck of the Batavia: A True Story, 2003, was awarded the Prix Guizot) * La mer dans la littérature française (Plon, 2003) * Lu Xun's La mauvaise herbe (French translation)
