Francois Cheng, Peter Newman

I read with considerable interest Cheng's autobiographical novel, Le dit de Tiangyi, about a Chinese man coming to Europe in the fifties. The first part, set in revolutionary China, is riveting, and I am happy to read someone whose command of French as a second language is so inspiring. The latter parts are really interesting, discovering the West through the starry eyes of an immigrant.

I also read Peter Newman's The Secret Mulroney Tapes, spurred by the publication of Brian Mulroney's autobiography. The story of the book, which is a cut-and-paste of various interview transcriptions with the then Prime Minister of Canada, is as interesting and intemperate as the uncensored outpouring of the PM himself. It seems that Newman struck a deal with the politician to have uncensored access to papers and to contemporaneous interviews in exchange for a commitment not to publish anything until after the politician had left office. The Prime Minister then apparently got into the habit of unburdening himself unreservedly to the journalist, guarding neither his thoughts nor his language. After leaving office, the politician reneges on the deal in order to write his own autobiography, and the journalist ripostes by publishing a book of selected transcripts across the board. What emerges is a picture of a very self-centered politician deluded about his accomplishments and his place in history. Mulroney also displays appalling resentments and hatreds of, most notably, Pierre Trudeau. Well, Trudeau died several years ago and cannot defend himself. As for Sheila Copps and Joe Clark and Kim Campbell and John Turner, he refers to them variously as Nazi, stupid, profane, poor in judgment. Mulroney rates himself as second in history after Canada's founding prime minister in terms of greatness. I'm glad he does, because no one else will. Wow. Worth the price of admission, and although I am sure the transcriptions are accurate, I would have been interested to read the publisher's legal department's memo on possible libel.