The Hall of Uselessness: Collected Essays

Simon Leys is the pen name of Pierre Ryckmans, a Belgian Sinologist who has been living, teaching and writing in Australia since 1970. He is the author of several books, such as Chinese Shadows, The Death of Napoleon, The Wreck of the Batavia & Prosper, and of a great translation of the Analects of Confucius; having translated the Analects into Italian myself, I can say with some assurance that Leys's translation is the best available.