Ouregano

by Paule Constant

Le malheur du monde peut d'abord être le malheur d'un enfant, capable de ressentir l'humanité qui l'entoure, les événements, les lieux à la façon d'un médium. Tel est le cas de Tiffany, huit ans, qui vit à Ouregano, un cercle administratif d'Afrique noire, à la fin de l'époque coloniale. Abandonnée à elle-même par une mère sans tendresse et par un père qui a le goût de la guerre, la petite fille enregistre à travers les manifestations du pouvoir et du racisme la détresse des adultes. Mais un drame vient bouleverser l'ordre des choses, un assassinat contraint les adultes à dévoiler la violence et la lâcheté qui les habitent. La présence de l'enfant leur est désormais intolérable. Tiffany s'enfuit. Pour l'enfant-médium, l'heure de la délivrance va-t-elle enfin sonner ?

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Paule Constant est une écrivaine française, qui a passé une grande partie de sa vie à l'étranger: Afrique, Asie et Amérique du Sud. Depuis le 8 janvier 2013, elle est membre de l'Académie Goncourt.

Paule Constant is a French novelist, who spend many years abroad: Africa, Asia and South America. Since january, 8, 2013, she is a member of the Académie Goncourt.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book translated from the French by French author Paule Constant. I am taking a class and the Institute of Adult Learning at our local Chesapeake Community College. I have been taking Margot Miller's classes in French Literature in Translation for several years now. Margo Miller did the English translation for this book, did her dissertation, which was published, on Ms. Constant. Ouregano is a fictional town located Africa during the time of the French colonization. The story deals with a seven-year-old girl arriving in Ouregano with her parents because her father is to serve as the doctor for the region. I have not read anything about the French colonies in Africa, but I have read much about the English presence in India, and this follows right along the same lines. The characters and introduced, and they are stereotypes well established in the European colonial system, and none of this is breaking fresh ground for me. The tone of the book is very depressing. So, basically, it is, for me, a typical French novel. It seemed to me that about 7/8 of the book is setting up the characters and situation, and it was not until the end of the book that anything actually starts to happen. Despite the books, we usually have a good discussion in this class. It was not so great today because there was a lot of introduction material and I had such a terrible cold that I just wanted to go home. Others in the class appeared to happier with the book than I was.

[Elaine Tama · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the first novel of a series by Paule Constant. I learned about it from Margot Miller, who translated it. The translation is excellent and so well-written, bringing to life the strange characteristics of the French colonists in colonial Africa in the 1950's. Told from the viewpoint of Tiffany, the daughter of the French doctor, Constant reveals all of the foibles, bigotry, insensitivity, and blindness of the Administrator, the Judge, the Doctor,and their wives, who are stuck in the middle of Africa with little understanding of what they are supposed to be doing there. At the same time, Constant analyzes the neurotic mother/daughter relationship between Tiffany and her mother, a theme I believe she explores in her later novels.

[Gita Madhu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the translation as I'm keen to understand the challenges of literary translation.
Although more or less depressing, it is a powerful and beautiful book.