Passage des larmes
Onglets langues
Un très beau roman où il est question du temps, de l’exil et de la figure mythique de l’écrivain Walter Benjamin qui hante l’imaginaire de ces deux frères perdus. Abdourahman A. Waberi compose un récit sensible, haletant et poétique et nous fait traverser de part en part ce pays de sables, d’îlots et de passages.
PASSAGE OF TEARS
Djibril left Djibouti several years ago. Montreal has made him a new man and the country of his birth is now no more than a dusty, barren foreign land. However, when the intelligence agency he works for sends him on a short mission back to Djibouti, Djibril realizes to what extent his birth country has become of crucial, geo-strategic importance, disputed by France, the USA , Dubaï and radical Muslim groups. Djibril couldn’t feel further removed from their quarrels. What he does feel is betrayed, betrayed by his birth country, created on the day he was born, June 17th, 1977, day of Independence. Old wounds begin to reopen, ghosts of his past come to haunt him and progress in his mission is at a standstill.
From his hidden prison Djibril’s twin brother, Djamal, has learned of his prodigal brother’s return and haunts his thoughts with relentless questions wherever he goes, never leaving Djibril a moment of peace. There is a price to be paid for returning to one’s past.
A novel that speaks of time, exile and the mythical figure of writer Walter Benjamin who haunts the imagination of two brothers, lost to each other, and partly, to themselves.
Born in Djibouti, Abdourahman A. Waberi is the author of several collections of short stories and novels, among which Aux Etats-Unis d’Afrique, critically acclaimed and recipient of several literary awards. He lives between Paris and the USA where he teaches literature.