TRAVELS IN NIHILON (1971) D’ALAN SILLITOE : UNE MÉTAPHORE ANTI-TOTALITAIRE
ALAN SILLITOE’S TRAVELS IN NIHILON (1971) : AN ANTI-TOTALITARIAN METAPHOR

Summary/Abstract: Travels in Nihilon is a novel published by Alan Sillitoe, an English writer, in Great Britain in 1971. The book unravels the misadventures of five British travelers on an island somewhere in the world, called "Nihilonia" and divided into two countries, "Nihilon" and "Cronacia". These travelers must write a travel guide on this little-known country. A geographical map, inside the book, represents this imaginary state whose contours correspond to the borders of Romania in 1971. This story would show "the truth of what Nihilon [claimed] to have achieved through constructive nihilism". The political doctrine of its leader, President Nil, who pushed to the absolute a "perfect system of regimented chaos". The irony is scathing. The purpose is metaphorical. A serious question, perhaps unanswered, about the nature of freedom, is asked. This book is indeed a surprising anti-totalitarian allegory, ostensibly directed against the post-Stalinist dictatorial regimes of Romania and Eastern countries during the Cold War, and, at the same time, in a more insidiousway, against Great Britain and Western capitalist states at the same time. What do the construction of this metaphor, the study of its geographical setting, the camouflage of its content and the overloading of its allegorical, declared or latent meanings, reveal?

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