Jean-Chritophe Rufin came into literature through his essays on the north-south relations and humanitarian issues. Then with "The Abyssinian", he launches into the romantic adventure in 1997. "Lost Causes" earned him the award in 1999 Interallié while "Brazil Red" gets the Goncourt in 2001. I just finished his latest novel, "Globalia" published in early 2004. For the first time, Jean-Christophe Rufin not located his novel in the past but in the future. Globalia is a world where nations have disappeared. His motto: "Liberty, Security, Prosperity". A world under glass, secured areas being protected by vast domes, barely visible, that allow guns beautiful time to maintain a blue sky and cloud without permanence. Apart from Globalia remain non-areas. They are supposed to are uninhabited. Baikal and Kate, the two main characters of the novel are young. This is a handicap in a world where old age (people with a great future) is valued. Baikal is an idealist. He convinces Kate in passing in non-areas, they would reach freedom. So the couple tries the passage, but gets caught. To maintain the population of Globalia under pressure and to justify the non-zones bombing, leaders need an enemy. "In a free society, it is the only thing that holds people together. Without threat, without an enemy, without fear, why obey, why work, why accept the order of things? Believe me, a good enemy is the key to a balanced society. This enemy there, we did more. " Ron Altman, whose power is very large in Globalia (the end of the novel will explain why and how) decided to make the enemy Baikal which he sorely lacking. The reader then attends the journey from Baikal in non-zones while Kate and a disgraced journalist, Puig Pujols, investigate within the Walden association to know the genesis of Globalia and find the way to reach Baikal. I loved this property for the novel took place he leaves the reader. In this Globalia where everything is perfectly organized for happiness, democratic oppression already announced by Tocqueville in "Democracy in America" is at its height. The world Globalia is not far from today's West. "Acquiring had a right, but have violated the necessary renewal of productions. That is why the end of the objects was made with as much care as the product itself and contained in him. " Globalia performs the inverse of the 20th century dictatorships. The pushed to the extreme democracy requires many elections and "we vote for anything." So, only a tiny minority of citizens still expresses his opinion. Same with books and wrote: "Every time the books are rare, they are resistant. In the extreme, if you ban them, they become infinitely valuable. Banning books is make them desirable. All dictatorships have had that experience. In Globalia, it was the opposite: the books were multiplied to infinity. " "Globalia" is a book to read or reread. It forces the reader to question democracy, the right to information, media manipulation. And the end of the book provides a worthy scene of the boards of the largest multinationals. Unlike in this case, the company is worldwide.
