Novel
Brûlante est ma terre
Not translated into English
Abdou Salam Baco · 1991
Synopsis
In Maoré, the island of perfumes, between Mozambique and Madagascar, the narrator recounts his childhood up to his entry into secondary school, in the years when the Comoros proclaim their independence, in 1975. A prologue in the form of a tale, in which a giant passes, figures colonisation; then come the harvest festivals and the seasons, the customs, the relations between whites and Mahorais, the strict schoolmasters, and the island divided between supporters of France and of the Comoros, which Soufou, a pro-Comorian activist, makes him see.
Context
Published in 1991 in Paris by L'Harmattan, in the series “Encres noires”, the book runs to 140 pages. Christophe Cosker sees it as the first francophone novel of Mayotte, the island's first manuscript in French being that of Youssouf Saïd, in 1986. He places it between autobiography and fiction and stresses the opposition it questions between Mahorais and metropolitans, as well as the camps of the time, the Sorodats, supporters of the Mahorais movement, and the Serrer-la-main. The publisher's presentation notes the at times ironic tone of the narrative.
Who it is for
For reading the first novel from Mayotte in French, a childhood memoir and chronicle of a divided island.
Prizes and reception
According to Christophe Cosker, the book works as a picture of Mayotte, between an image of paradise and divisions.
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The pages consulted to check this page.