Everything about Papillon Autobiography totally explained
Papillon is a
memoir by convicted felon
Henri Charrière. It was first published in
1969 and became an instant bestseller at the time. It was translated into English from the original French by author
Patrick O'Brian. The book was later adapted for a Hollywood film.
is an
autobiographical novel, or sometimes referred to as a narrative novel. Charrière always maintained that the account was accurate and true, but that the story was dictated by Charrière and put to the written word by another writer. In an interview before he died, Papillion's publisher,
King Arthur Demand, admitted that the book was originally submitted to him as a novel. Laffont, who specialised in real life adventures, persuaded Charrière to release it in its true form as an autobiography. The book's title was based on Charrière's nickname, derived from a
butterfly tattoo on his chest (
papillon being the
French word for butterfly).
Synopsis
The book accounts for a fourteen year period in Charrière's life (
October 26,
1931 to
October 18,
1945) from when he was wrongly convicted of murder in
France and sentenced to a life of hard labor at the
Devil's Island penal colony, to when he escaped from prison to
Venezuela free of French justice.
Charrière endured a brief stay at a prison in
Caen. As soon as Charrière boarded the vessel bound for
South America, he learned about the brutal life that prisoners must endure at the prison colony. Murders were not uncommon among convicts, and men were cut with makeshift knives for their
plan (a hollow, metal cylinder containing money that's lodged in the
colon. It has also been called a
charger). Charrière befriended a former banker convicted of
counterfeiting money named
Louis Dega. He agreed to protect Dega from those seeking to murder him for his plan.
Arriving at the penal colony, Charrière immediately claimed to be ill and was sent to the infirmary. There, he collaborated with two individuals named Clousiot and Maturette to escape from the prison by
sailboat. They let the current of the
Cayenne River take them to the
Atlantic Ocean, after which they began to sail northwesterly.
The trio were joined by three other escapees and were helped on their journey by a
leper colony, a
British family and several others. Nearing the
Colombian coastline, the escapees were sighted; they couldn't escape due to a lack of
wind, were captured and were then imprisoned.
In the Colombian prison, Charrière joined with another prisoner to escape. After distancing themselves from the prison, the two went their separate ways. Charrière entered
Guajira, a region dominated by
Native Americans. He was assimilated into a coastal village whose specialty was
pearl diving, married two teenage sisters and
impregnated them. After spending several months in relative paradise, Charrière became motivated to seek vengeance against those that wronged him.
Soon after leaving the cottage, Charrière was imprisoned at
Santa Marta, then transferred to
Barranquilla. There, he was reunited with Clousiot and Maturette. Charrière made numerous escape attempts from this prison, all failing. He was eventually
extradited back to French Guiana.
As punishment, Charrière was sentenced to two years of
solitary confinement on
Île Saint-Joseph (an island in the
Îles du Salut group, 11
kilometers from the French Guiana coast). Clousiot and Maturette were given equal sentences. Upon release, Charrière was transferred to
Royal Island (also an island in the
Îles du Salut group). An escape attempt was foiled by an informant (who Charrière stabbed to death for the act) and Charrière was again sent to solitary confinement, this time for nineteen months. The original sentence of eight years was reduced after Charrière risked his life to save the life of a girl caught in
shark-infested waters.
After French Guiana officials decided to support the pro-
Nazi Vichy Regime, the penalty for any escape attempt became
capital punishment. Realizing this, Charrière decided to feign
insanity and be sent to the insane asylum on Royal Island. His reasoning was that insane prisoners couldn't be sentenced to death for any reason and the asylum was under less heavy guard. He collaborated with another prisoner, but this escape attempt failed. When they were attempting to sail away, their boat was destroyed against the rocks, the other prisoner
drowned and Charrière was nearly dashed against the rocks as well.
Charrière returned to the regular prisoner population on Royal Island after being "cured" of his mental illness. He requested that he be transferred to
Devil's Island, the smallest and most "inescapable" island in the Iles de Salut group.
Studying the waters around the island, Charrière discovered a rocky
inlet surrounded by a high cliff that caused a phenomenon to occur in the water currents. He realized that every seventh wave would be large enough to carry something on the water far enough out into the sea to drift towards the mainland. He experimented by throwing sacks of
coconuts into the inlet.
Charrière found another prisoner, a pirate who had previously sailed along southeast Asia, to go along with this escape attempt. The pirate was famous for raiding ships in the far east. He would then kill everyone aboard. They threw themselves into the inlet with sacks of coconuts to float on. The seventh wave carried them out into the ocean. After days of drifting on the ocean under the relentless
sun, surviving only on coconut pulp, they arrived at the mainland. However, the other prisoner left his coconut sack prematurely and was devoured by
quicksand.
Charrière then navigated the mainland to find an
Chinese man named Cuic Cuic, the brother of a man Papillon met on Devil's Island. Cuic Cuic protected himself by making a hut on an "island" of solid ground surrounded by quicksand. His
pig was adept at finding a navigable route over the quick sand. The men and the pig made their way to
Georgetown, Guyana, by boat. Though he could have lived there as a free man, Charrière decided to continue northwesterly in the company of five other escapees. Reaching Venezuela, the men were captured and imprisoned at
El Dorado, a small mining town near the
Grand Sabana region.
Surviving horrible conditions there, and even finding diamonds, Charrière was eventually released, obtaining Venezuelan
citizenship a few years later.
Charrière followed the book with a sequel (
Banco) in 1973.
Film adaptation
In 1973, a film based on the book was made which starred
Steve McQueen as Henri Charriere.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Papillon Autobiography'.
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