El interior de la noche

by Léonora Miano

De nos jours. Dans un pays imaginaire d'Afrique noire...
Après plusieurs années d'études en Europe, la « fille de l'étrangère », Ayané, retourne à Eku, son village natal, au chevet de sa mère.
La colère gronde dans cette région entourée de collines au milieu de la brousse, qui évolue hors du temps, selon des traditions ancestrales : de prétendus patriotes du Nord, furieux et sanguinaires, réussissent à pénétrer au coeur d'Eku et le mettent en quarantaine. Sous couvert d'une idéologie prônant le retour à une Afrique flamboyante et mythologique, les miliciens préparent une longue et horrifiante cérémonie : pour Ayané, la nuit sera longue...

Genres: Africa, Fiction, Cameroon, African Literature, France, Roman, Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Née à Douala au Cameroun, Léonora Miano vit en France depuis 1991 où elle a fait des études en lettres.
Elle a gagné plusieurs prix littéraires :

- Prix Louis-Guilloux 2006
- Prix du Premier Roman de Femme 2006 pour L'Intérieur de la nuit
- Prix René-Fallet 2006
- Prix Bernard-Palissy 2006


Born in Douala (Cameroon), Leonora Miano lives in France since 1991 where she studied literature.
She has won several literary awards:

- Prix Louis-Guilloux 2006
- Prix du Premier Roman de Femme 2006 pour L'Intérieur de la nuit
- Prix René-Fallet 2006
- Prix Bernard-Palissy 2006

Reviews

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a highly graphic description of what happened in the village of her family in Central Africa, Ayané, the author gives – with Ayané’s voice - an analysis seeking for moral understanding of what happened, also pretty confrontational. JM

[Biblibio · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a hard book to briefly review, so I won't pretend to. First and foremost, my full review can be found here: http://biblibio.blogspot.com/2020/08/... . And even with more words, it's hard to write about Dark Heart of the Night by Léonora Miano (translated by Tamsin Black) in general. The book - though quite short - packs a lot into its small frame, both in terms of literary styles and themes. Moreover, it's hard to write about these issues on a surface level, particularly when I often felt like I needed a closer reading myself. Writing about it like this feels... unfair.

Dark Heart of the Night is a good book. It's painful, frequently, and violent in many forms. This is far from a light, easy read. But it's also rewarding in its brutality, in a way, because of how the book isn't just its harsher bits. There are a lot of subplots and interesting character moments, as well as bigger political messages. As I said: There's just a lot packed in. The writing is brisk and to-the-point, and the book overall definitely leaves one with a lot to contemplate. There are also some interesting meta-questions in how the book is framed and marketed (which I write about a bit in my longer review), but I think it's also worth approaching the book as is and in blunt terms: Dark Heart of the Night is a short, well-written, and very much worth reading.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Philosophical concepts tend to be topics for abstract discussions in ivory towers. In that setting, the real world sometimes seems secondary to applying various modes of logic and reasoning. Cameroon-born author Léonora Miano's novel Dark Heart of the Night illustrates how fiction can personify such concepts and their role in the lives of one or many.

Miano's focus is fatalism, something philosophers categorize by the logic and arguments that support it and distinguish from such things as determinism and predestination. That is far from what Dark Heart of the Night does. It seeks to show its role and implications in the context of African society and development.

The relatively short novel is built examines these issues largely from the viewpoint of Ayané. Now living in France, she has returned to Eku, her remote village in a fictional African country, because her mother is dying. Like her parents, Ayané did not follow the traditional practices of her clan. Even her name is not traditional and her status as an outsider, a 'witch,' increased when she left Eku to pursue an education and now lives in a land quite alien to the villagers. When she returns, the villagers have been ordered not to leave by group of armed rebels/militia in the nearby hills. When the armed men enter Eku the night after Ayané's mother dies, she is in a tree she was using to survey a way out. Thus, in addition to remaining an outsider, she becomes an unseen witness as the rebels threaten and kill villagers and order them to participate in a gruesome ritual they've created.

Despite the brutality, the villagers acquiesce in what is done to them. Because of their customs and traditions, the villagers believe that 'what had to happen always eventually came to pass.' They are 'obedient so as not to attract more troubles than necessary.' This view holds sway even in the midst of the night's most barbarous events.

The first rule of life, the only one in many cases, was to agree to bear all the burdens that existence visited upon them. They were long-suffering. They were not conquerors. Sometimes, things happened that killed them from within, but they always left it to fate to finish off their bodies. Their lives were not their property.

Ayané finds this view unacceptable. 'Between imperialism and fatalism,' she thinks, 'there had to be a third way, one that would not inflict itself on anyone but which would avoid the lure of submission.' Yet that third way is not to be found in Eku. It is also questionable whether that would change the night's events.

The way Miano structures Dark Heart of the Night makes clear that Eku's submissive attitude is a function of fatalism. At the same time, fatalism is not an essential precondition. Move the events to a small unarmed town on another continent and it can be argued that fear of death would lead those people to also accede to the demands of an armed and ruthless militia. Likewise, although set against a background of a fatalistic worldview, avoidance of death plays a large role in the village's attitudes. Is that desire so innate it exists regardless of worldview or is it, in fact, an expression of free will?

This is one of several understated commonalities and changes in the novel. For example, despite their dislike of each other and their disparate viewpoints, Ayané's strength is also seen in the village's most respected woman. In fact, despite the patriarchal hierarchy of the clan, she may actually possess the most power in the village, especially since at the time all but three of the men are living and working far from the village. Likewise, women begin to assert some power on the heels of the brutality. Finally, the book sees Ayané return to the village to participate in its funereal traditions. It remains clear, though, that there is a huge dichotomy between village life and what is going on in country's cities and its politics. As the book concludes, that dichotomy leaves Ayané pondering whether she needs to put her beliefs into action and do what she can for her native country.

Dark Heart of the Night is translated from the French by Tamsin Black. Although it is the first of Miano's works to be translated into English, she has taken issue with aspects of it. In a statement she sent the complete review, she complained of the title. The French title, L'Intérieur de la nuit, literally translates as The interior of the night. Miano says Dark Heart of the Night too closely resembles Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness 'and voluntarily sends wrong messages.' She is more critical of a foreword to the book, written by Terese Svoboda, calling it 'full of lies' and she has asked the University of Nebraska Press to withdraw it. (I don't read prefatory material to translated literature as past experience shows it often is aimed at shaping how a work should be viewed. I read it after completing the book only because of Miano's complaints and the areas of disagreement involve both fact and opinion.)

Given the nature of the issues Miano raises, it is unlikely she is trying to generate 'controversy' to draw attention to the book. While not a perfect work, the book deserves the wider audience an English translation can bring. Some may find a touch of contradiction in Dark Heart of the Night while others may find its sense of anger and exasperation directed at the wrong people. Still, it provides a unique look at fatalism in post-colonial Africa and its impact in the conflict -- and occasional commonality -- between modern and traditional life there.

(Originally posted at A Progressive on the Prairie)

[Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. What interested me most was how Ayané struggled with a kind of internalized racism toward her own community. Miano does an excellent job gently teasing out and examining different ways people respond to trauma—some victim-blame, some act bravely, some act cowardly, and everyone is at a loss. A very thoughtful reflection on how people are affected but yet manage to go on when the very worst is visited upon them.

One of my favorite quotes:
--L'homme ne serait qu'un criminel en puissance?
--Un criminel si l'occasion s'en présente! Il me semble d'ailleurs que ce crime terre à terre et très évident te choque plus que d'autres, plus subtils, plus policés, les incessants crimes de masse que commettent les puissants de ce monde. Tu rejettes ces gens qui ne possèdent que leur vie, mais ça te gêne mois que des salopards patentés décident de faire la guerre si c'est bon pour les affaires. Ici comme ailleurs, des forts sont venus terrasser des faibles, et tout ce qui te perturbe, c'est que ces derniers se soient soumis!

[Rita · Rating 1 out of 5]

i wish i could give you a zero. but i cant. so i give you: a one.




(review based solely on the hell this book put me through. impossible to make an unbiased judgement)

[Darryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

From her point of view, the Africans' whole life was spent escaping death. They did not even seem aware that it surrounded them. It ran in rivers seething with worms that covered the children's skin in ulcers. It was in the water they drank, in the pools stagnating outside their huts, sending clouds of mosquitoes to cover the world at nightfall. Death was everywhere in the filthy poverty of Africa. Death was everywhere in the ignorance of peoples, and death was in the traditions; it was in these necrophiliac customs that often involved keeping dead people's skulls; in the witchcraft they practiced when potions would be concocted from crushed human bones or innards; in certain rituals that were liable to end in bloodbaths, and no one was unduly bothered when a woman died because she was not tough enough to restrain the flow of blood she lost at her excision. Death had made Africa its dominion.

This harrowing novel is set in an isolated Central African village, whose people have steadfastly maintained traditional roles and values that are not shared by the residents of neighboring towns and cities. Although Ayané was born there, after her father married a woman from another town and brought her to live with him there, she and her mother are viewed as troublesome outsiders, particularly after her father's death. Instead of staying in the village, Ayané left as a young girl to attend university, then moved to France to pursue a career and a better life. After several years abroad she has returned to the village, as her mother is in poor health, but she immediately antagonizes and angers the village elders due to her thoughtlessness and refusal to accept their mores.

The unnamed country is in a state of crisis, as militants roam the countryside and terrorize soldiers, government officials and ordinary citizens. While Ayané cares for her dying mother the villagers sense a malignant presence in the surrounding jungle, just out of eyesight. Within days they are set upon by a small band of armed men, who are fueled by drugs and their leaders' desire to unite their countrymen in their nationalist fervor. The militants propose a horrific ritual to ensure their solidarity, and after several villagers are openly murdered the remaining villagers, including the elders, passively accept and actively participate in the ceremony, in order to save their own lives. Ayané observes these events hidden from everyone, and after the militants take their leave she openly challenges the village elders for allowing such a thing to happen without protesting or fighting back, and she questions her own responsibility in silently accepting these monstrous acts without trying to save any of its victims.

Dark Heart of the Night, whose English title is a grievous translation of the book's original title L'intérieur de la nuit, is a disturbing look into the roles and responsibilities Africans have and must face when evil befalls them, their towns and their countries. She powerfully demonstrates the tragic effects that result when individuals act on their instinct to survive, instead of standing in opposition to those who torment their friends and neighbors. This was a difficult book to read, as Miano does not shy away from any of the gruesome details of the militants' and villagers' actions, but it is an unforgettable and necessary contribution to African literature, which applies beyond that continent as well.

[Twodogs333 · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This night in Eku, it was lost Africa, Africa crippled by the impact of her encounter with the elsewhere that was struggling to rise again. But the cultural uppercut she had received had skewed her understanding. Remembering only dimly what she really was, she was reinventing herself in a macabre way before the villagers assembled. She was doing the same thing far away in countries with names unknown to the Ekus: she was tearing herself apart in genocides or civil wars, as though to gouge deeper into her wounds. For she could not resolve to forgive herself for having let herself be overrun, trampled, and effaced from her own memory."
This book was the selection from Cameroon for the World Cup of literature. Really a novella (only 143 pages) it packed a punch. I would give it 3.5 stars if I could. I felt the translation didn't lose much on the reader and the writing style (originally in French) was circuitous, but in a good way. The prose drew me in and didn't let up until I finished the last sentence. This book is not for the feint of heart as it is probably just a small sip of what really occurs in war-ravaged countries, but it has an important message, the one I quoted above, that I think so many of these war torn, post-imperialized countries could take to heart, a message which everyone could take to heart at some time or another--what's done is done, build on the future.
That being said, another point is made in that the people of the small village of Eku don't even understand the concept of future, but only survival. A fast and at times brutal read so far this is the winner for the WC of literature for me.
My other favorite quote which will resonate with me and hopefully stay in my brain for the rest of my days and that other people can read and learn from:
"No, but you can't judge people if you cannot offer them anything then what they have their way of life and their way of living. You can't stand on the edge of the pit they are struggling in, that abyss of ignorance and superstitions, just to ram them further down."

[Valeria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Très puissant parce que ce récit n’est pas manichéen - le personnage principal, Ayané, a de très bonnes raisons de vouloir se distancier d’une culture qui ne l’a jamais acceptée mais en faisant ceci, n’est-elle pas coupable du même crime? Peut-on comprendre autrui, s’il est impossible de le pardonner, quand cette personne est poussée à l’extrême?

Mon premier roman par cette romancière, et ce ne sera pas le dernier.

[divsmath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting read. On par with Edwidge Danticat's 𝘒𝘳𝘪𝘬? 𝘒𝘳𝘢𝘬! and Wole Soyinka's 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘨'𝘴 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯. The kind of story that will stay with you even after the last turn of the page, churning in the back of your mind, long past the dark heart of the night.

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

“‘You can’t judge people if you cannot offer them anything better than what they have: their life and their way of living. You can’t stand on the edge of the pit they are struggling in, that abyss of ignorance and superstitions, just to ram them further down.’”

One of the most unforgettable novels I have ever read; still, months later, I find my mind returning to that terrible violence and the startlingly beautiful language with which Léonora Miano depicts it. The inescapability of colonialism is felt in each minute of the villagers' horrified resignation and in each word of Ayané's indignant in-between-ness as an expat returned home. This is a story that raises questions about determinism and, significantly, offers few answers about how its alternative can be reconciled to the upturned lives of a people facing insurmountable brutality. I will be thinking about it for a long time.

[Gaëlle Wal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Après des études en France, Ayané retourne dans son village natal, ou elle n'est plus la bienvenue. Tout au long de ce roman les événements tragiques se succèdent et elle se heurt à un système traditionaliste, fataliste et rétrograde.

L'histoire rappelle de nombreux drames qui se déroulent toujours dans certains pays. C'est un livre sombre, mais bien écrit, qui décrit avec précision le tiraillement entre deux cultures, entre deux mondes.

[K's Bognoter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grumme-grum roman fra Cameroun. Om afrikansk nationalisme, når den udarter sig i depraveret, excessiv voldsudøvelse. Om overlevelsesmentalitet i en afrikansk landsbyklan, som går forud for alt andet. Og samtidig en udviklingshistorie om en ung kvinde, der forsøger at finde sin identitet. En roman med gode ideer, som desværre ikke er udført godt nok.
Læs hele min anmeldelse på K’s bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2023/05/07/leonor...

[Marguerite Rouleau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mon préféré de Miano à date, parce que le récit se concentre sur un seul moment : une nuit infinie où la communauté est soumises aux forces rebelles et se voit chamboulée par leurs rituels sacrificiels. Un rapport à la temporalité (rapport au passé vs au futur, tout en décrivant un régime présentiel au quotidien) à investiguer et propose un regard critique sur la force réparatrice du témoignage.

Très dur à lire émotionnellement, mais un page turner pour moi!

[KrLoS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se me ha hecho muy difícil aceptar todo lo que sucede. Que sí, que es real, pero es indefendible justificar nada de nada. Por supuesto que la parte militar es una abominación (tristemente real), pero la incultura que demuestran gran parte de los personajes, esa sumisión, ese comportamiento hostil contra "los extranjeros", ese abominar de la cultura del vecino...hacen tanto daño o más que ese ejercito. Sobran ambos en este mundo.

[DragonisBorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

La plume de Léonora Miano explore cette fois-ci le cas d'une jeune femme africaine partie en France pour étudier et qui doit revenir dans son village africain à cause de la mort de sa mère. On assiste à un véritable choc des cultures entre cette jeune femme indépendante et les femmes du village profondément attachées à leur tradition qui en viennent à accepter des horreurs.

[Onyi]

From where do we wrest our freedom and power? The empty hands and sunken faces we know will submit to us? Or from wrestling with our own violent desires for domination?

I'm excited to read this when it's retranslated and reissued after Miano wins some huge international literary award. I think it'll be much better

[Hihamburger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well wrote, and very realistic in the manner of describing events. Miano does not hesitate to put the uncomfortable at the forefront in her book. Short and easy to read (in English), but heavy on topics. Would probably read again at a later date.

[Вера Скобелева · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dans ce roman il y a un fragment trooooop macabre. Non est pour les personnes impressionnables.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un livre puissant qui donne à mieux comprendre les coutumes et les mœurs des habitants d’un pays imaginaire proche du Cameroun de l’autrice . Les portraits et les descriptions sont saisissantes.

[Claudèle Charette · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,75⭐

[Jean Corbel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juste le contraire de l'oiseau multicolore.
L'horreur, la force, la lumiére de la vie.
Une conteuse sobre.

[William Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very harrowing read though not a long novel had to put it down several times an eye opener

[William Freeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very harrowing read that does not paint a pretty picture of Cameroon. Well written but very disturbing don't read if feeling down