{"id":18865,"date":"2017-01-04T17:20:24","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T16:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/?p=18865"},"modified":"2022-11-09T12:18:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-09T11:18:10","slug":"sony-labou-tansi-congo-brazzaville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/sony-labou-tansi-congo-brazzaville\/","title":{"rendered":"Sony LABOU TANSI – Congo Brazzaville"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t

\"Sony<\/a>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
Sony Labou Tansi (1947-1995),\u00a0writer and playwright, was\u00a0based in\u00a0Congo Brazzaville recognized as the father of Francophone literature.<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
Writings\u00a0: '<\/span>La Vie et demie, Seuil, 1979 , 'L'\u00c9tat honteux', Seuil, 1981 ; 'L\u00e8se-majest\u00e9', ACCT, 1982 ; 'L'Ant\u00e9-peuple', Seuil, 1983,\u00a0Grand prix litt\u00e9raire d'Afrique noire\u00a0; '<\/span>Les sept solitudes de Lorsa Lopez', Seuil, 1985. Palme de la Francophonie ; 'Les Yeux du volcan', Seuil, 1988 ;\u00a0'Le Coup de vieux', Pr\u00e9sence Africaine, 1988 ; 'Le Commencement des douleurs', Seuil, 1995 ; 'L'Autre Monde', Revue noire, 1997.<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Theatre : '<\/span>La Parenth\u00e8se de sang', suivi de 'Je soussign\u00e9 cardiaque', Hatier, 1981 ; 'Moi, veuve de l'empire', L'Avant-Sc\u00e8ne, 1987 ; 'Qui a mang\u00e9 madame d'Avoine Bergotha', Lansman, 1989 ; 'La R\u00e9surrection rouge et blanche de Rom\u00e9o et Juliette', revue Acteurs, 1990 ; 'Une chouette petite vie bien os\u00e9e', Lansman, 1992 ; 'Une vie en arbre et chars...bons',\u00a0Lansman, 1992 ; 'Th\u00e9\u00e2tre complet', 2 volumes, Lansman, 1995 ; 'Antoine m'a vendu son destin', Accoria, 1997 ; 'La Rue des mouches', \u00c9ditions Th\u00e9\u00e2trales, 2005 ; 'Qui a mang\u00e9 Madame d'Avoine Bergotha', Lansman, 2014 ; 'Qu'ils le disent, qu'elles le beuglent', Lansman, 2014 ;: 'Une vie en arbre et chars... bonds', Lansman, 2015 ; 'Une chouette petite vie bien os\u00e9e', Lansman, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Poesy : 'Po\u00e8mes et vents lisses', Le Bruit des autres, 1995 ; 'Po\u00e8mes', \u00e9dition critique, coord. Claire Riffard et Nicolas Martin-Granel, en coll. avec C\u00e9line Gahungu, Paris, \u00c9ditions du CNRS, coll. \u00ab\u00a0Plan\u00e8te Libre\u00a0\u00bb, 2015<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
Published works in English :\u00a0<\/em>'Parentheses of Blood, a play'. Trans. Lorraine Alexander Veach. New York: Ubu Repertory Theater Publications, 1986 ;\u00a0<\/em>'The Antipeople, a novel'. Trans. J.A. Underwood. and M. Boyars. New York: Kampmann, 1988 ;\u00a0<\/em>'The Seven Solitudes of Lorsa Lopez'. Trans. Clive Wake. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1995 ;\u00a0<\/em>'An Open Letter To Africans' c\/o The Punic One-Party State, an essay. Trans. John Conteh-Morgran. Published in Tejumola Olaniyan and Ato Quayson's African Literature: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory. Malden: Blackwell Publishers, 1990 ;\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
Published by Revue Noire publisher (in French) : 'L\u2019Autre monde, \u00e9crits in\u00e9dits'<\/a> (1997), 'L\u2019Atelier de Sony Labou Tansi, correspondances, po\u00e9sie, roman in\u00e9dits'<\/a> (2005)<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Infernal Letter to Monsieur Arthur Rimbaud<\/span><\/h1>\n

[\"The Infernal Letter to Arthur Rimbaud\" was written for the commemoration of the centenary of Rimbaud's death and was published in RN 08 in December 1992, original poem unpublished text in French. The actor - director Jean-Paul Delore offers on stage an astonishing reading of this text.]<\/span>
[This poem 'Infernal Letter' can be considered as an exchange of ideas with his compatriot Tchicaya U Tam\u2019si and his writing<\/a>\u00a0\u2019La Source\u2019<\/a><\/span>\u00a0published in RN 05 in June 1992]
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsieur Rimbaud<\/span><\/p>\n

I'm telling you straight<\/span><\/p>\n

to the soul<\/span><\/p>\n

This world is dead<\/span><\/p>\n

And France too<\/span><\/p>\n

I'll tell you again<\/span><\/p>\n

Straight to the pants<\/span><\/p>\n

This world will soon finish<\/span><\/p>\n

dying<\/span><\/p>\n

And you will never again go<\/span><\/p>\n

to Abyssinia or Asia<\/span><\/p>\n

dealing in absinthe<\/span><\/p>\n

in ideas high as weeds<\/span><\/p>\n

in good moods<\/span><\/p>\n

in down and out enthusiasms <\/span><\/p>\n

in clusters of weapons<\/span><\/p>\n

Home-made Scuds and mean<\/span><\/p>\n

frail ambiences \u2013 never again<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

No Monsieur Arthur<\/span><\/p>\n

You will never go again<\/span><\/p>\n

To sell the peacock's feather<\/span><\/p>\n

And the boss's butt<\/span><\/p>\n

Not to the blue misted desert of Nubia<\/span><\/p>\n

Nor to the scorching confines<\/span><\/p>\n

of the Niamand-Garam falls<\/span><\/p>\n

Animals battered with water<\/span><\/p>\n

wind<\/span><\/p>\n

and money will no longer look at you<\/span><\/p>\n

from the back of their brains \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

It's finished Monsieur Arthur<\/span><\/p>\n

Unless arteries disgorge<\/span><\/p>\n

You will no longer leap over<\/span><\/p>\n

all the trees of knowledge<\/span><\/p>\n

intimately linked<\/span><\/p>\n

to profit \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsieur Arthur I am telling you<\/span><\/p>\n

from Africa<\/span><\/p>\n

between the French green berets<\/span><\/p>\n

and black Italians all over the place<\/span><\/p>\n

You will no longer sell<\/span><\/p>\n

a hundred thousand gnashing of teeth<\/span><\/p>\n

a hundred thousand lots<\/span><\/p>\n

drawn to decide the destiny of a Verlaine<\/span><\/p>\n

With a blood-red weapon maintaining <\/span><\/p>\n

law and order included \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Now that sky-blue is the color Humanity wears<\/span><\/p>\n

You will no longer walk around<\/span><\/p>\n

in Charleville<\/span><\/p>\n

or in Charleroi<\/span><\/p>\n

or at Charles de Gaulle airport<\/span><\/p>\n

except cornered<\/span><\/p>\n

between a neighing Journiac<\/span><\/p>\n

and a Genet done up to the nines<\/span><\/p>\n

farting with white fear<\/span><\/p>\n

in a France let loose<\/span><\/p>\n

in central Cow-boyonia<\/span><\/p>\n

and where the chilly-willies get to you in the eyes<\/span><\/p>\n

in the brain<\/span><\/p>\n

in the spleen<\/span><\/p>\n

in the balls<\/span><\/p>\n

in the dictionary ...<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

You yourself Monsieur Arthur<\/span><\/p>\n

Academician of the West Winds<\/span><\/p>\n

You will no longer go elsewhere<\/span><\/p>\n

than sucked up into the vacuum of the<\/span><\/p>\n

bomb storm<\/span><\/p>\n

And you will be summoned<\/span><\/p>\n

to vacuum-clean<\/span><\/p>\n

the Academy of Moral Science<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsieur Arthur<\/span><\/p>\n

Pity this France<\/span><\/p>\n

that has never had anything greater<\/span><\/p>\n

than reason and culture<\/span><\/p>\n

France thrown to the winds <\/span><\/p>\n

and which will not germinate<\/span><\/p>\n

before the last century \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsieur Arthur<\/span><\/p>\n

There is true pidgin in the trace of your soles<\/span><\/p>\n

and crude fuel oil<\/span><\/p>\n

and rainbow risings<\/span><\/p>\n

and leonine blind drunks<\/span><\/p>\n

and chaotic gain<\/span><\/p>\n

and arab blood \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

You can trust me<\/span><\/p>\n

at the whisper of a new word<\/span><\/p>\n

at the touch of the mangled flower of hope<\/span><\/p>\n

in a leathery voice<\/span><\/p>\n

as tough as Mount Cameroon \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

All hopes being equal<\/span><\/p>\n

Me Ham<\/span><\/p>\n

napalm's heir<\/span><\/p>\n

commander gassed<\/span><\/p>\n

cheated body and soul<\/span><\/p>\n

There are no more seasons<\/span><\/p>\n

in Hell \u2013 no more reason<\/span><\/p>\n

no more anything<\/span><\/p>\n

except fat gain<\/span><\/p>\n

greasy <\/span><\/p>\n

harassing<\/span><\/p>\n

odorless \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

no more knowledge<\/span><\/p>\n

no more blooming anguish<\/span><\/p>\n

let's get rid of all the winds<\/span><\/p>\n

to dance the dance<\/span><\/p>\n

of the little white dancer<\/span><\/p>\n

White from arse to soul<\/span><\/p>\n

And it cheats<\/span><\/p>\n

it lies<\/span><\/p>\n

it hints at the edges<\/span><\/p>\n

of the mind \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Eminences grises<\/span><\/p>\n

and manuals \u00e0 gogo<\/span><\/p>\n

all balls placed<\/span><\/p>\n

and well protected<\/span><\/p>\n

the pouch oozes<\/span><\/p>\n

It will sweat blood<\/span><\/p>\n

Minus fifty<\/span><\/p>\n

is the temperature<\/span><\/p>\n

where poets are made<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But France Monsieur Arthur opts for fire<\/span><\/p>\n

Wood fire<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh no \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

A fire of dried tibias in Chad bathing<\/span><\/p>\n

in a season with five Aprils<\/span><\/p>\n

and it flows<\/span><\/p>\n

and it will flow \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

fire replaces reason<\/span><\/p>\n

and hunger<\/span><\/p>\n

and the disembarkation of legs<\/span><\/p>\n

Maison Vianney full of scolarly scum<\/span><\/p>\n

Mazeran<\/span><\/p>\n

Bardey they're hard at it<\/span><\/p>\n

behind the cavalcades<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

I'm telling you from Africa<\/span><\/p>\n

cuckolded mother<\/span><\/p>\n

we will no longer suffocate<\/span><\/p>\n

now that the whole world<\/span><\/p>\n

is no longer whole \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

with a motherland<\/span><\/p>\n

dying of a hundred plagues<\/span><\/p>\n

The profession \u2013 even of squatting<\/span><\/p>\n

is sold to death<\/span><\/p>\n

for stones thrown<\/span><\/p>\n

for lead shot<\/span><\/p>\n

Tadjoura neighs<\/span><\/p>\n

like an old white horse<\/span><\/p>\n

the whiteness of swindlers<\/span><\/p>\n

green anguish in tibia-land<\/span><\/p>\n

bodies dressed in silk<\/span><\/p>\n

naked soul<\/span><\/p>\n

which has denuded intelligence<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Monsieur Arthur<\/span><\/p>\n

I swear to you<\/span><\/p>\n

We will no longer travel<\/span><\/p>\n

other than light.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Sony Labou Tansi, Brazzaville, February, 21 1991<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Juliet\u2019s Testament<\/h1>\n

[extract from \u2019La r\u00e9surrection rouge et blanche de Rom\u00e9o et Juliette\u2019\u00a0('The Red and White Resurrection of Romeo and Juliet)' based on William Shakespeare<\/em><\/p>\n

published in RN 01 in May 1991, original text written in French, translated by W. A. Caswell]<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
Dearest love, I drank your words and this draught will be my death because your flesh is riven to mine by the burning bonds which unite us, how could I breathe under the darkened sky in the face of a fallen sun. Your blood summons mine, your corpse claims mine \u2013 newly-wed for only a few hours we must bear our bodies before us towards the same fatal flower. I now unbutton this dress of life to meet and match the crystal-clear nakedness of your soul. How could I do otherwise \u2013 Romeo fractured sun flaring corpse I come to you in the robes I donned yesterday before God and the Holy Church. What other defiance must I wear how else could I preserve the paltry body I vowed to you. My love, the unchaste shall inherit a blighted sky, we shall be united in our common dream, read the same chapter in the book of death where the essence of our common measure and our common destiny is told.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Romeo sweetest corpse, my heart-ship journey's end, open your stillness, let me drink a new world from your faint lips, the passion which loves us together.(\u2026)<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Men of this earth, take your hubbub weave your webs of bitter dispute devour your death. Let those who are starved of intrigue grow fat to their hearts' content light other fires to burn other innocents make show of humanity trample soil burn eviscerate the fragile \u2013 alas, you never let me hate enough to hate you with \u2013 I go a virgin into the gaol of the love I have espoused \u2013 Romeo the time to seal my lips and I come to you\u2026 (silence)<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Sony Labou Tansi<\/em><\/p>\n

extract from \u2019La r\u00e9surrection rouge et blanche de Rom\u00e9o et Juliette\u2019\u00a0(The Red and White Resurrection of Romeo and Juliet)\u00a0based on William Shakespeare.<\/em><\/p>\n

Published in French by Revue Acteurs-Auteurs no83, September ,Acte Sud.<\/em><\/p>\n

Staging Sony Labou Tansi, sets and costumes H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Delprat.<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘Infernal Letter to Monsieur Arthur Rimbaud’ (poem) and ‘Juliet\u2019s Testament’ (theater) by Sony Labou Tansi, writer based in Congo-Brazzaville. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250,64],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22577,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18865\/revisions\/22577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuenoire.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}