Новинки Алена Мабанку

A poignant and riotous tale of family and revolution in postcolonial Africa, from the winner of the French Voices grand prize and finalist for the Man Booker International Prize
Pointe-Noire, a bustling port town on Congo’s southwestern coast, is host to Alain Mabanckou’s astonishing cycle of novels that is already being hailed as one of the grandest, funniest fictional projects of our time. His novels have been twice short-listed for the Man Booker International Prize and have been described as “beautiful” (Salman Rushdie), “brutally satiric” (Uzodinma Iweala), containing “fireworks on every page” (Los Angeles Review of Books), and “vividly colloquial, mischievous and outrageous” (Marina Warner) .

Mabanckou’s riotous new novel, The Death of Comrade President, returns to the 1970s milieu of his awarding-winning novel Black Moses, telling the story of Michel, a daydreamer whose life is completely overthrown when, in March 1977, just before the arrival of the rainy season, Congo’s Comrade President Marien Ngouabi is brutally murdered. Thanks to his mother’s kinship with the president, not even naive Michel can remain untouched. And if he is to protect his family, Michel must learn to lie.

Moving seamlessly between the small-scale worries of everyday life and the grand tragedy of postcolonial politics, Mabanckou explores the nuances of the human soul through the naive perspective of a boy who learns the realities of life—and how much must change for everything to stay the same.

Alain Mabanckou’s riotous new novel centers on the patrons of a run-down bar in the Congo. In a country that appears to have forgotten the importance of remembering, a former schoolteacher and bar regular nicknamed Broken Glass has been elected to record their stories for posterity. But Broken Glass fails spectacularly at staying out of trouble as one denizen after another wants to rewrite history in an attempt at making sure his portrayal will properly reflect their exciting and dynamic lives. Despondent over this apparent triumph of self-delusion over self-awareness, Broken Glass drowns his sorrows in red wine and riffs on the great books of Africa and the West. Brimming with life, death, and literary allusions, Broken Glass is Mabanckou’s finest novel — a mocking satire of the dangers of artistic integrity.

Courts récits, interviews et rencontres : Alain Mabanckou donne un nouvel horizon à notre langue. De Pointe-Noire à Cuba, de Madagascar à Montréal, il interroge inconnus et célébrités sur leur rapport à la francophonie. Poète exilé, clochard céleste, écrivain de la brousse, tous ont ce point commun : ils trouvent dans le français un langage universel, la littérature.

It’s not easy being Tokumisa Nzambe po Mose yamoyindo abotami namboka ya Bakoko. There’s that long name of his for a start, which means, "Let us thank God, the black Moses is born on the lands of the ancestors." Most people just call him Moses. Then there’s the orphanage where he lives, run by a malicious political stooge, Dieudonné Ngoulmoumako, and where he’s terrorized by two fellow orphans—the twins Songi-Songi and Tala-Tala. But after Moses exacts revenge on the twins by lacing their food with hot pepper, the twins take Moses under their wing, escape the orphanage, and move to the bustling port town of Pointe-Noire, where they form…

All human beings, says an African legend, have an animal double. Some doubles are benign, others wicked. This legend comes to life in Alain Mabanckou’s outlandish, surreal, and charmingly nonchalant Memoirs of a Porcupine.
When Kibandi, a boy living in a Congolese village, reaches the age of 11, his father takes him out into the night and forces him to drink a vile liquid from a jar that has been hidden for years in the earth. This is his initiation. From now on, he and his double, a porcupine, become accomplices in murder. They attack neighbors, fellow villagers, and people who simply cross their path, for reasons so slight that it is virtually impossible to establish connection between the killings. As he grows older, Kibandi relies on his double to act out his grizzly compulsions, until one day even the porcupine balks and turns instead to literary confession.
Winner of the Prix Renaudot, France’s equal to the National Book Award, Alain Mabanckou is considered one of the most talented writers today. He was selected by the French journal Lire as one of fifty writers to watch this coming century. And as Peter Carey suggests, he “positions himself at the margins, tapping the tradition founded by Celine, Genet, and other subversive writers.” In this superb and striking story, Mabanckou brings new power to magical realism, and is sure to excite American audiences nationwide.

When Kibandi, a boy living in a Congolese village, reaches the age of 11, his father takes him out into the night and forces him to drink a vile liquid from a jar that has been hidden for years in the earth. This is his initiation. From now on, he and his double, a porcupine, become accomplices in murder. They attack neighbors, fellow villagers, and people who simply cross their path, for reasons so slight that it is virtually impossible to establish connection between the killings. As he grows older, Kibandi relies on his double to act out his grizzly compulsions, until one day even the porcupine balks and turns instead to literary confession.

Pointe-Noire, capitale économique du Congo, dans les années 1970. Le narrateur, Michel, est un garçon d'une dizaine d'années qui fait l'apprentissage de la vie, de l'amitié et de l'amour, tandis que le Congo vit sa première décennie d'indépendance sous la houlette de « l'Immortel Marien Ngouabi », chef charismatique marxiste. Les épisodes d'une chronique familiale truculente et joyeuse se succèdent, avec ses situations burlesques, ses personnages hauts en couleurs : le père adoptif de Michel, réceptionniste au Victory Palace ; maman Pauline, qui a parfois du mal à éduquer son turbulent fils unique ; l'oncle René, fort en gueule, riche et néanmoins opportunément communiste ; l'ami Lounès, dont la sour Caroline provoque chez Michel un furieux remue-ménage d'hormones ; bien d'autres encore. Mais voilà que Michel est soupçonné, peut-être à raison, de détenir certains sortilèges.
Au fil d'un récit enjoué, Alain Mabanckou nous offre une sorte de Vie devant soi à l'africaine. Les histoires d'amour tiennent la plus grande place, avec des personnages attachants de jeunes filles et de femmes. La langue que Mabanckou prête à son narrateur est réjouissante, pleine d'images cocasses, et sa fausse naïveté fait merveille.

Akcja powieści toczy się w środowisku afrykańskich imigrantów w Paryżu. Główny bohater, zwany przez kolegów Zadkologiem, to typowy przedstawiciel SAPE - Stowarzyszenia Amantów, Pedantów i Elegantów. Szykownym strojem kłuje w oczy sąsiadów, a rzekomą bezczynnością powiększa francuską dziurę budżetową. Kiedy jego ukochana Pierwotna Barwa porzuca go dla Hybrydy grającego na tam-tamie, w życiu Zadkologa powstaje wyrwa, którą wypełnić może tylko...

Najnowsza powieść Mabanckou to satyra na "czarny Paryż", ale i na Francję Sarkozy'ego. Kongijski pisarz pokazuje paradoksy wieloetnicznego społeczeństwa, w którym uprzedzenia rasowe są wciąż żywe i nie omijają żadnego środowiska. W świecie opisywanym przez Mabanckou każdy, najbardziej osobisty gest staje się gestem politycznym, wikłającym człowieka w sieć przynależności i społecznych schematów. Jedyną drogą ucieczki ku wolności okazuje się śmiech, choć tym razem jest on zaprawiony nutką nostalgii i melancholii.

Alain Mabanckou’s riotous new novel centers on the patrons of a run-down bar in the Congo. In a country that appears to have forgotten the importance of remembering, a former schoolteacher and bar regular nicknamed Broken Glass has been elected to record their stories for posterity. But Broken Glass fails spectacularly at staying out of trouble as one denizen after another wants to rewrite history in an attempt at making sure his portrayal will properly reflect their exciting and dynamic lives. Despondent over this apparent triumph of self-delusion over self-awareness, Broken Glass drowns his sorrows in red wine and riffs on the great books…

Pour tuer ceux qui se dressent sur son chemin, Kibandi fait appeL a son double animal: un porc-epic. La petite bete, philosophe, malicieuse, armee de ses redoutables piquants, execute les souhaits macabres de son maitre. Le couple meurtrier sillonne l'Afrique jusqu'au jour ou Kibandi rencontre bien plus redoutable que lui...

Katkine Klaas, kes armastab v?ga punast veini ja baari Tuulest Viidud Krediit, saab ?hel p?eval baari peremehelt Kangekaelselt Teolt ?lesande kirjutada raamat sellest ainulaadsest paigast ja tema v?rvikatest kundedest.

À Pointe-Noire, dans le quartier Voungou, la vie suit son cours. Autour de la parcelle familiale où il habite avec Maman Pauline et Papa Roger, le jeune collégien Michel a une réputation de rêveur. Mais les tracas du quotidien (argent égaré, retards et distractions, humeur variable des parents, mesquineries des voisins) vont bientôt être emportés par le vent de l'Histoire. En ce mois de mars 1977 qui devrait marquer l'arrivée de la petite saison des pluies, le camarade président Marien Ngouabi est brutalement assassiné à Brazzaville. Et cela ne sera pas sans conséquences pour le jeune Michel, qui fera alors, entre autres, l'apprentissage du mensonge.