“Every second of my life is more precious than all the time it took an author to write a page about dogs. » These are the words expressed by the Italian novelist Michela Murgia, which come to mind before I give up reading a book. I repeat them two or three times before taking action, I’m a little difficult to convince, especially by myself.
Today, however, I found another reason not to finish a book. The work in question appeared at Éditions Présence Africaine in 2014 and is called Surrounded Earthyes, with a C. The author is Mohamed Mbougar Sarr.
Terre Ceinte tells us the story of a city that was taken by an Islamist army. The destinies of all its citizens will be disrupted almost overnight and forever. Some resist and the two sides end up fighting, some with guns and whips, others with the most powerful thing, words.
Now I think it would be wise of us to invent a new word, one that more accurately represents the intensity of a fierce, very beautiful and painful story masterfully written over 354 pages, “book” is no longer enough.
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[En intégral] Mohamed Mbougar Sarr (Senegal): “Encircled Earth”
The only downside is that there is a chance that everything I read after Terre Ceinte will be judged more harshly. There will definitely be more books that I don’t finish.
Anyway, why don’t I finish the last 20 pages? It’s simple, because I’m not strong enough.
I would need to be either alone or very well accompanied. Alone to cry without embarrassment, loudly. Accompanied to be reassured after the tears, reassured by the author, if possible, who to do this will have to explain to me if what I understood is what he had wanted to say. Does he know?
The writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr in a word, a gesture and a silence • RFI
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Translations are available in English, Brotherhood (Europa Editions) and in Italian Terra violata (E/O) for those who are interested and have a strong heart.
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