Comme deux frères - théâtre

by Maryse Condé

Deux amis d''enfance, deux vieux frères, se retrouvent en prison : leur coup a mal tourné. A la veille de leur procès, ils n''ont guère l''espoir de convaincre les juges de leur innocence. Mais ils comptent bien faire valoir des circonstances atténuantes. Car ils n''ont pas été gâtés par la vie, ni valorisés par la société. A leurs yeux, ils n''ont pas délibérement décidé de basculer dans l''illégalité et la violence; c''est leur enfance qui les a tout droit menés sur ce chemin. Leur amitié résistera-t-elle à cette épreuve ?

35 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Maryse Condé was a Guadeloupean, French language author of historical fiction, best known for her novel Segu. Maryse Condé was born as Maryse Boucolon at Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, the youngest of eight children. In 1953, her parents sent her to study at Lycée Fénelon and Sorbonne in Paris, where she majored in English. In 1959, she married Mamadou Condé, an Guinean actor. After graduating, she taught in Guinea, Ghana, and Senegal. In 1981, she divorced, but the following year married Richard Philcox, English language translator of most of her novels.

Condé's novels explore racial, gender, and cultural issues in a variety of historical eras and locales, including the Salem witch trials in I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem and the 19th century Bambara Empire of Mali in Segu.

In addition to her writings, Condé had a distinguished academic career. In 2004 she retired from Columbia University as Professor Emeritus of French. She had previously taught at the University of California, Berkeley, UCLA, the Sorbonne, The University of Virginia, and the University of Nanterre.

In March 2007, Condé was the keynote speaker at Franklin College Switzerland's Caribbean Unbound III conference, in Lugano, Switzerland.