First published 2021
In 1898, a man calling himself Alfred Raquez arrives in French Indochina with tales of fleeing unbearable grief in his homeland. He throws himself into documenting the colonial world around him, producing thousands of pages about European life in the Far East. Raquez ventures deep into the remote highlands of Southeast Asia, where indigenous peoples live beyond government control. He explores Shanghai's entertainment districts and runs a successful cabaret in Hanoi. His amateur anthropological work helps create exhibitions in both Hanoi and Marseille. The charming, learned writer gains access to Belle Époque society's elite circles and audiences with the rulers of Annam, Cambodia, Laos, and Siam. His fame grows throughout the region. Yet beneath his gregarious exterior, Raquez guards a shameful secret so devastating that even his closest friends remain unaware of its nature. When he dies in 1907, the truth finally emerges: Alfred Raquez never existed at all.
Genres: biography, 20th-century, adventure, anthropology, 19th-century, ethnicity, cultural, cultural-studies
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Annam, Cambodia, Hanoi, Laos, Marseille, Shanghai, Siam, Southeast Asia
Period: 1898-1906
176 pages · ebook · Routledge