"Chaophonie" an essay by the writer Frankétienne (78 years) regarded as the father of contemporary Haitian letters, just released by the publisher "Mémoire d’encrier" in the Cadastres collection.

In this deeply moving essay-tribute, based both of the epistolary, family chronicle and witness. Frankétiennetells us, sharing light, dizziness and thirst for the thirst to say that "every work is a bet on the future."

With "Chaophonie" Frankétienne sign a testamentary work, a reflection over time, the writing and the city as a form of a long letter to his son Rodney Saint-Éloi. From Port-au-Prince to Montreal, the voice of the old writer rolls echoes, bursts into a thousand flavors and delights that language whose only him knows the crazy mysteries.

Extract :

"Je pense souvent à toi, mon fils, qui aujourd’hui vis loin de moi, tant mes souvenirs s’anguillent à travers ma mémoire. Et alors, tout s’entremêle. Nos paroles et nos silences qui s’entrelianent dans un métissage époustouflant.

[...]

Mais, que valent toutes les littératures du monde face à un innocent qu’on assassine ?

Que pèsent toutes les bibliothèques des villes entières face à un enfant qui meurt de faim ?

Pourtant, une seule phrase dans un livre peut bien sauver toute l’humanité. L’écriture implique un risque majeur entre l’urgence de dire et le feu du silence."

Learn more about Frankétienne :

Born April 12, 1936, to Ravine Sèche, communal section Poteneau of the town of Grande Saline, in the Artibonite Department, of his real name "Jean-Pierre Basilic Dantor Franck Étienne d'Argent" (Frankétienne) is the author of over fifty literary works and winner of several prestigious awards including the title of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by France in 2010 and nominated seven times for the Nobel Prize for Literature.

HL/ S/ HaitiLibre