The infinite monkey theorem states that a chimpanzee randomly typing on a typewriter will sooner or later end up composing a sonnet by Shakespeare. Pierre Sanges carries the metaphor further with this ethological tale illustrated by Nicolas de Crécy.
McIntosh, a gardener-mathematician and spiritual cousin of Baron Münchhausen, one day decides to prove the infinite monkey theorem. Helped by a real chimpanzee called Percival, and a typewriter, he undertakes to perform the whole experiment. Obviously things don't go as planned, the chimpanzee proves to be less docile than one would have thought, showing mischief, intelligence, even scruples, and later an evolved conscience. Slowly, as the story unfolds in the shape of variations on the same theme, one realizes to what extent the human and the chimpanzee can be close, like two brothers. In the last chapters one learns how to transcend the eternal distinction between man and animal by venturing towards the vegetable. Les Aventures de Percival draws inspiration from the works of Dominique Lestel, a philosopher-ethologist, and Alain Richert, a landscaper-botanist. It takes into account (as it pleases) the most recent speculations as far as ethology is concerned, and twists the use of ethograms (description of behaviors) in order to find other ways of telling fables. Nicolas de Crécy's drawings are there to bring a bit of scientific rigor to the fantasy, and vice-versa.
Pierre Senges (born 1968 in Romans, lives and works in Paris) is a French novelist and radio drama author.
Nicolas de Crécy (born 1966 in Lyon, lives and works in Paris) is a French illustrator and comics author.
