And why I prefered (and still do) thinking about art and music and such, is because when I really get deep into thinking about Devil's Island (because I'd read the first English translation in 1969 or was it 1970), even my typewriter begins to stutter and doubletalk in fear and anger, I end up sounding like Professor Erwin Corey walking among the ghosts ... ('pa-pa-pa-pa-papillion! papa-ooh-mau-mau sheebadahobbadasheebadahobbadasheebadahobbada")

He finally returned to France, visiting Paris in conjunction with the publication of his memoir Papillon (1969). The book sold over 1.5 million copies in France,[3] prompting a French minister to attribute "the moral decline of France" to miniskirts and Papillon.[4]


(She said "en France c'est un sujet tabou!")

(And my mind plays tricks on me, because I vividly recall reading that book in Richmond in 1969, but I didn't live in Richmond in 1969, so maybe it was just a magazine article in 1967 in some journal translated into English, a excerpted chapter, a preview of the book and other coming attractions).