René Belbenoît (1899–1959)

Dry Guillotine - Rene Belbenoit ****

My favourite book of all time is Papillon, but there has always been the question of whether or not it a factual or fictional account of life in the French penal colony (or something of a mixture). One of the people cited as a source of inspiration/material has been Rene Belbenoit, interestingly he also wrote a biography about his time there called Dry Guillotine (the nickname given to the islands by prisoners). It seems that at the time of publication in 1938 it was a fairly popular book, but these days it is quite difficult to get hold of a hard copy.

Belbenoit was arrested and sentenced to penal servitude after a number of theft convictions, during these years he kept a journal that amazingly survived his various escapes and ocean dunking’s due to being wrapped in an oilcloth. We learn of the hardships and the really awful conditions that prisoners had to endure, with many not surviving to see freedom again. However, as with all situations there is always an opportunity for the crafty to survive and Belbenoit is no exception. He is always on the lookout for the next escape and in between makes sure that he ingratiates himself with the right people. Interestingly his relationship with the author Blair Niles really stood out for me, and she actually incorporated his experiences in her novel called Condemned to Devil's Island: The Biography of an Unknown Convict, it just seems unimaginable that she was able to arrange meetings with him during his imprisonment, and actually played an indirect part in a number of the escape attempts. Expect to hear about men at the very end of their tether, where a person who finds himself dying in his ramshackle bed suddenly becomes surrounded by convicts waiting to lay claim to his worn out boots and lice ridden blanket.

I suppose that this book may be more factually accurate than others from the same period, but we will never really know whether or not Papillon was totally truthful, but because of the inevitable comparison this book seems a little tame and repetitive at times. Well worth a read though, even if just to acquaint yourself with a darker side of the French judicial system of the early 20th century.… (meer)