(supersedes <mn.4c207d819fc4416e.48418***free.fr>)

Je souhaite vous faire partager ce plaisir de lecture : Patrick
Pécherot , "Soleil noir", récent cadeau de Noël.

Sur fond de climat social sombre, dans un nord en friche industriel, ce
sont deux histoires qui s'entremèlent : la principale, actuelle,
raconte un casse monté par des branques qui s'y croient et qui ne peut
que dérailler; la seconde, en contrepoint mineur, remonte 70 ans
auparavant, à l'époque des émigrés polonais qui venait faire un travail
dont nous ne voulions déjà plus. Une grève de convoyeurs de fond
provoque une embellie dans le quartier mais on sent bien que ce ne sera
qu'un feu de paille.

On trouve une belle brochette de personnages, bien décrits avec des
dialogues alertes.

Beaucoup d'humour, mais bien sûr noir et un rien désabusé , dans ce
roman noir. Le ton est pourtant léger et vif.

J'en profite pour conseiller absolument "Tiuraï", plus ancien et du
même auteur, qui montre Tahiti sans ses charmes habituels, du moins
ceux qu'on lui prête en métroplole. Les nuages sont bas, la chaleur est
moite et ça se sent.

Olivier

the other custom is tolerated,
and both alike or neither must be claimed as sanctioned by
Governor Elliott's proclamation. All remedies which ever existed
by common law or by statute in England up to 1845 against
ownership of human beings, against every form of slavery, extend
by their own proper force and authority to Hong Kong; and, if
that were not enough, all English laws applicable to Hong Kong,
including those against ownership in human beings, were by express
Ordinances 6 of 1845, and 12 of 1873, embodied into the laws
of Hong Kong, whilst the worst forms of slavery are especially
punished by Ordinance 4 of 1865, and 2 of 1875. I am bound by
my most solemn obligations to enforce all these laws. I must,
therefore, without fear, favour or affection, discharge this duty
to the best of my ability."




CHAPTER 10.

NOT FALLEN--BUT ENSLAVED.


The Report of the Commission affords the following instructive
account of the difference in the moral and social status between the
prostitute of the East and West:

"In approaching the subject of prostitution, as it is found in
Hong Kong at the present day, it is absolutely necessary for a
full and just comprehension of it, to keep in mind two distinct
considerations. One is the almost total identity of the whole
system of prostitution, which since times immemorial is an
established institution all over the large empire of China. The
other point to be kept in mind is the radical difference
which distinguishes the personal character, the life and the
surroundings of Chinese prostitutes from all that is
characteristic of