Let's face it, we love it. It's fresh, bright and intelligent. You would think the Echenoz. The best Echenoz, the biographies such as Zatopek or that of Tesla. Because it is still question of fictionalized biographies, Lives paraphrase Patrick Deville. The "Life" in question here is that of Alexandre Yersin. How you do not know? We. Finally, until there is little, because since this little book we know little or nothing of this small Swiss who has invented (no less): serum against the plague (Yersinia Pestis the, it was he) or Rubber intensive crop for Michelin tires. For Yersin is a jack-of-all genius. It does not take up, having grown up in the shadow of Pasteur, here he dreams of walking in the footsteps of Livingstone. Tiring very quickly once the thing found, eager to move on. In this little book, we will cross (besides the two already there): Paul Doumer, Dr. Schweitzer, Celine, Rimbaud, and even Serpollet, the inventor of the engines that will make the fortune of MM. Renault and Peugeot. For Yersin is interested in everything: microbiology, astronomy, botany, anthropology, engineering, ... It will be the first to import an automobile in Indochina. For it is in Indochina he finds a haven, fleeing the war follies of 14 and 40. Patrick Deville's book is magic: kidnapped, fresh, twirling, ... he takes us on the trail of this spirit key-on and after covering stride Life Yersin, one has the impression of be smarter. For the finest minds of the time there were frequent (we've already mentioned a few). Spirits eager for modernity and discoveries. This is us some very beautiful pages on scientific discoveries. Just like those of the plague bacillus in Hong Kong during the epidemic of 1894 that ravaged China: Impaired fund scientific rivalries and political conflicts, Japanese arrogate (with the complicity of English) the best lab ... the best material and the best corpses. The Franco-Swiss Yersin is relegated to the background. Without modern autoclave, it does not reach the right temperature for cultivating microbes strains. It is the Japanese Kitasato will discover ... which turns out to be a streptococcus. And it is finally well Yersin who discovers the plague bacillus, as the microbe grows at a temperature that is not where it was expected! Beautiful pages also on the birth of the Institut Pasteur and Institut Pasteur throughout the colonial world. On these discoverers that, not even doctors, will revolutionize medicine for long. At the time, they still had to fight against creationists who had never seen a microbe. In short, it's a shortcut in History, a new pleasure every page. And then there was writing. The prose is reminiscent of Patrick Deville Echenoz: small short sentences and dry, an offbeat humor, beautiful language. A delight. We had been lucky before this gem receives the Prix Femina: well-deserved award. So far you probably did not know all of Alexandre Yersin: it's time to fill this gap!
