“Four books that marked me”… by the Tunisian writer Yamen Manai
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Every Sunday in the summer, The World Africa asks an author from the African continent which works have made the greatest impression on him. This week, the question is put to the Tunisian writer Yamen Manai. Author of four novels, he won with the last, beautiful abyssthe Orange Book Prize in Africa 2022.
• The Roots of Heavenby Romain Gary
For his visionary character. “This book is considered a classic of French literature, and I understand why because I read it The Roots of Heaven of Romain Gary three years ago and I still have very vivid memories of it. Here is a book published in 1956 and which already at the time raised the question of our relationship to nature and the place we give to the living! I was impressed by this subject and this hero, Morel, who is dedicated to the protection of large mammals such as elephants. »
“There is also a gallery of extraordinary characters and all of this takes place in an Africa colonized by France. Gary also shows the relationships between the different political forces and gives keys to understanding what the France-Africa relationship was like. I find that he is an outstanding storyteller, who manages to maintain his narration from start to finish with great humanity. For me, it is a magnificent book that fully deserved its Goncourt prize. »
• The Continent of everything and almost nothingby Sami Tchak
Because it speaks to my heart as well as my mind. ” In this novel, we are in the head of a French anthropologist who recalls his career. When he started, he went to Togo. A meeting takes place between the student who is going to look for something to see and the population of the Togolese village who are going to stage themselves to be seen. Authenticity disappears to give way to folklore and a lot of comical misunderstandings. I really liked the descriptions in the village. I find that Sami Tchak shows well the vertical gaze of the Westerner on Africans, this famous gaze from above which necessarily skews things. »
“In the second part of the book, we are in Paris, with the “Africanists”. Each researcher has his own theory on the continent. We can clearly see how complex Africa is and that it is in fact closer to a kaleidoscope of infinite colors… This refers to the title, this Continent of everything and almost nothing. It is necessary to express oneself with nuance. And, having taken part in meetings or conferences on Africa, I have sometimes personally observed this lack of nuance. This novel also offers a reflection on old age, on the relationship to the body, the tenderness that emerges at the idea of this transformation. »
• The Iliadfrom Homer
For its inexhaustible character. “I discovered Greco-Roman mythology in my adolescence and I literally fed on it. There was a staging of the great human adventure, but also a world full of gods that intrigued me, because it was totally different from the monotheism in which I grew up in Tunisia. The breath of the epic impressed me, as well as these very detailed, very graphic descriptions where we “see” even the details of the engravings on the shield of the hero, Achilles! The Iliad really gives the feeling of being in the middle of what is happening. »
“In this book, I also like to feel the human fragility, the importance and the smallness at the same time of the man vis-a-vis the nature. One of the great moments for me is Achilles’ fight against the river god, after the death of his friend Patroclus, which made him mad with rage. It is then compared to a fire. Beyond this heroic character, a whole world or rather worlds are described. For me The Iliad is a magical, inexhaustible book that you can open and start at any page. I have read it many times and always have it close at hand. This is definitely the book I always come back to. »
• The old man who read romance novelsby Luis Sepulveda
For wonder. “It is a marvelous book, which transports us to an old hunter reluctantly coming out of retirement to restore peace between men and the Amazonian jungle, disturbed when a hunter kills the litter of a mother jaguar, triggering thus his fury and revenge. In this novel, we are in the middle of “magic realism” South American, on the edge of reality. I enjoyed going deep into the forest with José Antonio Bolivar, learning to detect its secrets through his eyes, leaving behind me the village of El Idilio, its gold diggers and its poachers. They represent all the human absurdity for which romance novels console us. »
“I read this novel more than twenty years ago and I still remember it in detail. To tell the truth, I regularly visit its pages of a beauty that is both simple and sublime, because stripped of what is not necessary to say the human condition. The old man who read novels of love is, in my view, one of those works that do not need many pages to offer an incredibly rich journey. »
Yamen Manai’s novels are published by Elyzad editions (Tunis).
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