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Crowded amphitheaters, students nicknamed “Kosovo” sleeping on university campuses at night, professors sleeping with male and female students… This alarming situation is reminiscent of the situation in the Central African Republic Fariara In the documentary We, the students!
The two protagonists rebel against the system that crushes them with a strong desire to overcome determinism. “Studying, working, none of this is like a miracle. Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible,” Iro says to his friend Thierry. “I see the doubt and fear in people’s eyes, but, Thierry, I swear to you, it’s nothing compared to the strength they show. They work odd jobs, brave the scorching sun and suffocating buses, sleep on the street or in lecture halls with their tutors, and all their savings have gone to waste. Riffle certainly”.
It is this energy of hope that Nincemon Fallé embodies, and that led him to apply for the African Voices Award and ultimately win it. He is living proof of the talent of young Ivorians, a talent he describes with great skill and poignancy. Encounter.
Jeune Afrique: Under what circumstances did you compete for the Voix d’Afriques prize organized by Éditions Lattes?
Ningsmon failed: I gave myself an ultimatum: finish my manuscript and enter it in the latest edition of the African Voices Prize, or forget about this novel. After nearly three years of writing, while wrestling with my characters and their lives, I couldn’t bring myself to add this project to my graveyard of unfinished projects. So I wrote it in parallel with my work, and I even allowed myself some small fears, like the minute I submitted the manuscript to the jury. of Close the site. I was a firm believer in this from the beginning and visited the site every day while waiting for the results and compared my novel with those of other candidates. That’s how much obsession there is!
What was your reaction when you learned you were the winner?
When I stopped waiting, the news came. The price was in the middle of an internal reorganization, the situation dragged on and on, and I finally believed that it was over. Email from Anne-Sophie Stefanini (Literary Director of the Jean-Claude Lattès Editions, member of the jury chaired by Jean-Claude Lattès) Mohammed Mbugal Sarr) changed my mind so radically that for several weeks I thought I was dreaming.
How did you develop the desire to write?
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The desire to tell stories has never left me since childhood. I created my own universe while growing up, seeking refuge in stories and sometimes fighting against the loneliness that I maintained as an introvert. yes Then quote all the cartoons from my childhood and tell you why they’re important to me. The same goes for movies and books. I switched from drawing to writing in college, and I haven’t stopped since. My experience pursuing a literature degree in college, my first internship, my first anxiety about the transition to adulthood… At each important moment, I felt the need to tell this story.
“Write, write until I have no strength left, nothing to say, no more resentment or anger, write until I leave my soul there. » Are you someone who expresses yourself through the character of Iro?
This is how I write. I make myself sick, resist the urge to put off the next sentence until tomorrow, and seek inspiration even when it resists me in the most vicious ways. These burning suns wait this The novels I never finished were because the stories were not mine for the first time, the messages they conveyed went beyond my little persona, these questions haunted me, writing was like a self-exorcism. I am even more convinced of this today when readers from Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, France, Senegal, and even Canada tell me how much they identify with Iró or Thierry.
In fact, every character has a part of me in it. Isn’t that the essence of the relationship between an author and his or her work?
How do you imagine the narrative with two voices, Arrow’s and Thierry’s?
I first imagined this novel as a choral story. I planned to voice four characters, who would respond to each other, each giving their own version of the story. Iro and Thierry were the first characters I created, and before I knew it, the rest was just them, their friendship, their rivalry, everything they could say to each other, and everything they kept for themselves. I felt like I was the referee. or A witness at best. I want to explore the roots of this conflicted friendship again and again.
Iro’s brother is called Nessemon, “the fire that never dies.” Nincemon/Nessemon, are there any autobiographical elements in your novels?
Yes and no. Naming my brother Nessemon was a decoy designed to confuse readers who thought Arrow was my perfect alter ego. In fact, every character has a part of me. Isn’t this the essence of the relationship between an author and his work? Whether we like it or not, we are scattered between every line. Fiction redraws reality, giving it a new body and a new face.
“The eternal flame is the phoenix that rises from the ashes, the life that survives after everything.” Iroh’s father said to his son. Temporary workers, Burden: To succeed for yourself and your family. Are these names heavy?
I suppose this is true of all cultures, but, generally speaking, when we give a child a name that is loaded with meaning, aren’t we condemning that child to become one with that name? Guyer names tend to be prophetic and specific, or encapsulate the expectations of their parents. Sure, they’re heavy to carry, but they’re beautiful all the same.
College is the most impressive story nest I have ever lived in. I find it interesting that so many young people get into the biggest mess of their lives there.
What prompted you to write about the University of Abidjan, and in particular about the “Kosovars,” the students who sleep on the university campus?
College is the most impressive storytelling den I have ever lived in. I find it fascinating that so many young people get into the biggest dilemmas of their lives there. There are so many knots to untie, so many ideas to deconstruct in order to hope to find a place in society! “Kosovans” Representing only a portion of the mural, the novel could not bear witness to all these personalities even if he wanted to.
Thierry says to Ayrault: “Professors sleep with students for favours, students sell their bodies to other students to survive, take flesh as rent, money instead of intelligence, and take drugs to fight depression. The university is the image of the country, it carries the essence of all these evils.” Is this observation yours too?
This is the case for many students and graduates anyway. I lived my college experience with a detachment that others can’t. When your entire world revolves around studying, you inevitably have something to say. I was the one who listened. If recent suicides are to be believed, the living will speak, and so will the dead. exist campus (on July 10, a student committed suicide in the second university town of Porto Bue).
When Ayrault found his father’s manuscript, he said: “In detail, I even had the impression of rereading certain passages of my writing (…) as if life were nothing more than a perpetual new beginning. The university situation in Côte d’Ivoire has not changed in forty years?
A lot has changed in forty years. It would be a lie to say that the university has not evolved, but it has also lost a lot along the way, first of all its former prestige. The political crisis has hurt it forever. The ever-increasing number of students tends to make things worse, and nothing seems to meet their real expectations. It is deeply sad that after all these years, we still have no idea of what it was. comma closure.
How do students find the strength to fight against a system that stifles them? They achieve this thanks to The strength of their characters, their ability to help each other?
That’s the beauty of this story. It’s a survival instinct to find ways to resist despair. If there’s one good thing that can come out of all this, it’s resilience, friendship, and mutual help. We grow up not because we graduate, but because we see the best and the worst of adult life.
The sun appears frequently in your fiction, especially in your titles: These fiery suns, In the title of Arrow’s father’s book: These uncertain suns. What do these suns represent?
My role, it’s simple. And then there are all these young people who are fighting and not letting uncertainty snuff out their light.
These fiery suns, Edited by Nincemon Fallen. JC Lattis, 306 pages, 20 EUR.
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