Dô-Thê Dung, Thuy-Lê Thanh
Extraits
Littérature française
What Pig Are You Feeding?
Hello and welcome to this nice journey, More than anything I want the journey to show how easy and sane humor & fun are, they very often give us relief from the burden of Blessedness and Ugliness. We should laugh at the absurdity of it all. I'm afraid this book does not offer concrete solutions. However, I'm quite sure these nice reflections would help you spotting amazing cases and strange situations whenever you want to laugh at everything, whenever you want some relief, whenever you want humor... It's always worthwhile to wear a smile. All the best SalmaMichele
10/2016
Non classé
Studies in Elizabethan Audience Response to the Theatre
The aim of this volume is to give an analytic description of how Elizabethan Spectators in documentary evidence responded to the theatre performances they watched or knew to be about. It also considers why they responded in that way. Opposing dual consciousness to the reification of the character (its 'ideal presence'), the author concludes that Elizabethan spectators were predominantly interested in the characters' 'ideal presence'. Why they were, is explained by relating their statements to the Renaissance theory of visual perception, (demonic) transformation, and ideas on acting.
02/1993
Religion
The Christology of Hans Küng
No-one can read christology today without reference to the work of Hans Küng. But has Küng been widely misunderstood ? Alrah L.M. Pitchers maintains that he has, and offers a critique of Küng's christology against the background of the German and Anglo-Saxon traditions with particular emphasis on Küng's brilliant grasp of Hegel. The author concludes that Hans Küng is among the most significant contributors to the christological debate today.
07/1997
Monographies
Karl. No Regrets
The artist Patrick Hourcade met Karl Lagerfeld in 1976, initiating a friendship that would last more than twenty years, nourished by a shared passion for the arts of the eighteenth century. Patrick Hourcade tells us the story of this aesthetic meeting of minds. Together they would construct a magnificent world of refinement and luxury-at times bordering on the extravagant-from the Château de Grand-Champ in Brittany to the Hôtel Pozzo di Borgo in Paris and villa La Vigie on the Côte d'Azur. Drawing on unpublished photographs and documents, the author paints an intimate portrait of Karl Lagerfeld, both shadow and light. He gives us a unique and singular perspective, populated by the exceptional personalities who accompanied the great couturier throughout his life.
10/2021
Non classé
Experimental Social Dilemmas
Most of the papers on social dilemmas were presented at a conference on social dilemmas that was held at the University of Groningen in the spring of 1984. Social dilemmas are interpersonal situations that are characterized by a conflict between private and collective interest, i.e. in attempting to further their private interests, participants may end up worser off than if they had abandonned self-interest and worked for the good of the community. The chapters in this book describe efforts made by social psychologists, sociologists, and political scientists to advance our understanding of the psychological processes that influence people's behavior in social dilemmas. It is assumed that understanding of these processes can help our search for solutions.
12/1986
Non classé
Iàsyr Shivaza: The Life and Works of a Soviet Dungan Poet
The Dungans are Chinese Muslims, living mainly in the Kirghiz and Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republics, whose ancestors migrated to Russia more than a hundred years ago. They speak the Kansu and Shensi dialects, but write their Chinese speech with the Cyrillic alphabet. Iàsyr Shivaza (1906-1988) is the most celebrated poet of the Dungans. He wrote numerous poems and many novels, he translated works from Russian and Kirghiz into Dungan, he compiled school textbooks for Dungan children and he helped in the creation of the present Dungan alphabet. Iàsyr Shivaza worked in the Kirghiz State Publishing House, edited a Dungan newspaper, and served in the Second World War as a war correspondent. The present work discusses his life and achievements.
11/1991
Non classé
Ruling Class Men
What is it like to be a master of the universe ? The authors have researched the desires and fears of the world's most powerful men. The Murdochs, Packers, Kennedys, Agnellis and other men like them, directly determine the fates of thousands and influence the future of the world like no other people. Described as ‘sacred monsters' by one of their own, they are carefully created to be what they are and to enjoy shaping the world in their own likeness. To learn about these often reclusive men, the authors extended the life-history technique to interrogate autobiographies, diaries and biographies and have created a composite picture, a collective portrait, of tycoons over three generations. The book carefully explores the childhoods, schooling, work and play, sexual activities, marriages and deaths of the wealthiest men who have ever lived. It exposes the nature of ruling-class masculinity itself.
02/2007
Littérature française
Maana Barma ge 1
"Maana barma ge" is a collection of traditional stories and fables told by the Bagirmi people of central Chad. They are published in the original Bagirmi language, preserving the unique oral and dialectic character of each story as it was told. They are i
06/2017
XXe siècle
Victory will be next ! A Diary, 6th June - 10th August 1944
The story takes place in Brittany, focussing on Rennes and Redon, i.e. about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, about fifteen minutes by plane as the crow flies. The months of June and July 1944 were very difficult for the allied troops. They relentlessly fought to block German reinforcements coming from the West and the South, which resulted in constant bombing and machine-gunning of the rear boundary of the front line, the area where we were living. As civilians, we did not take part in the fighting and everyday life alternated between calm periods, on the verge of being "normal", and tragic moments of great tension. ''Victory will be next ! " is a set of notes written at that moment in time, day by day, by a fifteen-year-old boy. They are, obviously, fragmented, even a little naive, But they are nonetheless a testimony of a snapshot of history within the larger picture of WWII. They should be taken as such.
03/2021
Littérature étrangère
Saïgon-Paris . Destins déprogrammés
Le Viêtnam est en guerre depuis vingt ans. Le jeune Tuân voit son avenir basculer au décès de son père. Il ne sera pas médecin. Il s'engage dans l'armée et devient pilote d'hélicoptère de secours médical. À peine fait-il la connaissance de Huyên-Lê, son grand amour, qu'il est contraint de quitter son pays vaincu par les communistes. Le destin de leur pays les sépare dès lors. Il se retrouve à Paris où il commence à se consacrer à sa vocation première : les études de médecine. Sa fiancée, restée au pays, connaît le sort tragique du camp des vaincus : enfermement, exaction, viol. Puis vient le temps des boat people. Comme des millions d'autres à la recherche de la liberté, elle fuit le pays à bord d'un rafiot de fortune. Mais le mauvais sort continue à s'acharner sur elle tout au long de son exil. De nouveau leurs destins se croisent à Paris... Amour, bonheur, consécration et compassion. Mais également jalousie, maladie, combat et transgression.
02/2010
Religion
Metaphor and God-talk
This volume contains a selection of the papers originally delivered at the 25th LAUD-symposium on 'Metaphor and Religion'. The essays in this volume analyse the metaphorical nature of religious language from a variety of perspectives. The concept of metaphor has been developed by the sustained attention of theologians, philosophers, linguists and literary theorists for more than two millennia. The last twenty years have witnessed a renewed and intensified interest in this powerful dynamism of thought. The present contributions offer a survey of the most adhered-to theories of metaphor. They elaborate on their significance for religious language : next to analogy as a philosophical and theological tool, interactionist, pragmatist and cognitivist theories are used to shed light on the peculiarity of human efforts to talk and think about the transcendent.
11/1999
BD tout public
Doctor Gachet's portrait
A picture named "Doctor Gachet's portrait" has been stolen a night from a museum. Immediately, the news offer the event and our heroes start the research after some clue that leads them to the thief. After travelling across some countries following his trace, they realize that a smuggling network is behind the robbery, led by minister Goring. Among their loot is an enormous amount of pictures stolen from private collectors, with the aim of transporting and hiding them beyond their frontiers.
01/2014
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
The Undergrowth of Science. Delusion, self-deception and human frailty
Walter Gratzer's themes in the stories he relates in The Undergrowth of Science are collective delusion and human folly. Science is generally seen as a process bound by rigorous rules, which its practitioners must not transgress. Deliberate fraud occasionally intrudes, but it is soon detected, the perpetrators cast out and the course of discovery barely disturbed. Far more interesting are the outbreaks of self-delusion that from time to time afflict upright and competent researchers, and then spread like an epidemic or mass-hysteria through a sober and respectable scientific community. When this happens the rules by which scientists normally govern their working lives are suddenly suspended. Sometimes these episodes are provoked by personal vanity, an unwillingness to acknowledge error or even contemplate the possibility that a hard-won success is a will o' the wisp; at other times they stem from loyalty to a respected and trusted guru, or even from patriotic pride; and, worst of ail, they may be a consequence of a political ideology which imposes its own interpretation on scientists' observations of the natural world. Unreason and credulity supervene, illusory phenomena are described and measured, and theories are developed to explain them - until suddenly, often for no single reason, the bubble bursts, leaving behind it a residue of acrimony, recrimination, embarrassment and ruined reputations.
Here, then, are radiations, measured with high precision yet existing only in the minds of those who observed them; the Russian water, which some thought might congeal the oceans: phantom diseases which called for heroic surgery; monkey testis implants that restored the sexual powers of ageing roués and of tired sheep; truths about genetics and about the nature of matter, perceptible only to Aryan scientists in the Third Reich or Marxist ideologues in the Soviet Union; and much more. The Undergrowth of Science explores, in terms accessible to the lay reader, the history of such episodes, up to our own time, in ail their absurdity, tragedy and pathos.
01/2000
Policier-Espionnage
Cyberwar Tome 3 : Thuy Diêm
Une guerre cybernétique paralyse l'ensemble des Etats-Unis depuis plusieurs semaines. Des virus inconnus ont contaminés tous les réseaux informatiques. Même les réseaux militaires, policiers et gouvernementaux. Plus aucun ravitaillement n'est possible. Les gens meurent de faim. La violence et le chaos règnent dans tout le territoire. Les incendies ravagent des provinces entières. Les hôpitaux sont surchargés et les malades agonisent sur les trottoirs.
04/2021
Musique classique
Songs of Love. 12 Romances. 12 Lieder. Soprano (tenor) and piano.
Leokadiya Kashperova (1872-1940), hitherto consigned to a footnote in musical history as Stravinsky's piano teacher, is undergoing rediscovery. A double graduate of the St Petersburg Conservatoire, she emerged as a virtuoso pianist and composer in the romantic tradition. She was associated with some of the great musicians of her day, including Balakirev and Auer. She performed in both Germany and the UK in the 1900s, but her career petered out after 1920. Songs of Love was first published in 1904. No evidence survives of any public performance in Kashperova's lifetime although it is very likely that they were performed at her regular 'musical evenings at home on Tuesdays' mentioned in her Memoirs. The transparency of the piano writing strongly suggests that she would accompany herself singing. Kashperova, by all accounts, possessed a fine voice, and in the summer of 1906 she decided 'to learn from the artistry', as she put it, of the tenor Raimond von Zur-Mühlen who was widely celebrated for having developed (with Clara Schumann) the Lieder-Abend tradition. His summer-schools on the Baltic coast were frequented by aspiring singers from all over Europe, even Japan and India. Kashperova herself was responsible for the poetic lyrics of Songs of Love (in both Russian and German), which may well have emerged from her own bittersweet experience of life and love ; she was not to marry until 1916 at the age of forty-four. That Kashperova is the author of both the music and the lyrics of Songs of Love would suggest that they express very personal sentiments. Instrumentation : soprano (tenor) and piano
12/2023
Non classé
Debating National Security
The nature of security in the contemporary world is changing rapidly. Superpower detente, the progress and further prospects of arms control, the collapse of East European communist regimes, and German unification, to name but the most spectacular features, present unprecedented challenges not only for political decision-makers, but also for the mass publics in democratic societies. What are the trends of public opinion on these issues and how do they reflect these changes ? By what factors are pertinent public attitudes shaped and what structures do emerge ? How can they be reliably assessed and meaningfully analyzed ? Which demands flow from the dynamics of public opinion that have to be taken into account in security policy making ? These are the key questions addressed by the twelve contributions to this volume. Combining longitudinal and comparative approaches they cover the public dimension of the national security debate in seven Western nations : Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United States.
04/1991
Sciences de la terre et de la
Coral reef ascidians of New Caledonia
Ascidians are common marine animals present on all types of substrata but abundant and highly diversified in warm oceans. They represent a large portion of the underwater pictures taken by divers of the ORSTOM center in Noumea.
One millimeter to some decimeters in size, cryptic or brightly coloured, motionless, often in the shade, ascidians are not well known, but are present everywhere. They are surprising not only in their variable shapes but also in their unique biological characteristics. They represent the boundary between invertebrates and vertebrates, although the adults look like stones or sponges.
With a beautiful selection of photographs, the authors discuss the essential anatomy, the modes of budding, the pigments, and the spicules. The ecological requirements are detailed and symbionts, parasites and predators are reviewed. The relationship with man concerns fouling species on ships, their use as food end as a source of pharmacological products.
The final section provides a key for the identification of the most common or spectacular species.
08/1991
Non classé
Prisons and Idylls
Critical attempts to evaluate Kleist's fictional world, e.g. as ordered or disordered, accessible or resistant to reason, face a hermeneutic problem : the material and psychological embeddedness of the characters in the very world they seek to understand. This problem is reflected not only in the less-than-omniscient perspective of Kleist's narrators, but also in the reader's confrontation with competing readings of events in terms of mythic absolutes and with the opaquely concrete quality of spatial metaphors. In this light, three new interpretations offer insight into such problems as the nature of the idyll in "Das Erdbeben in Chili," the Marquise von O...'s creative self-imprisonment, and the gypsy's apparently supernatural intervention in Kohlhaas' quest. Finally, the book presents a dynamic typology of spatial phenomena in the stories which accounts for Kleist's concern with the interpretive process as opposed to its presumed endpoint.
12/1985
Histoire et Philosophiesophie
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN WORLD HISTORY. An introduction
In modern industrial society, the tic between science and technology seems clear, even inevitable. But historically, as James E. McClellan III and Harold Dorn remind us, the connection was far less apparent. For much of human history, technology depended more on the innovation of skilled artisans than it did on the speculation of scientists. Technology as "applied science," the authors argue, emerged relatively recently, as industry and governments began funding scientific research that would lead directly to new or improved technologies. In Science and Technology in World History, McClellan and Dorn offer an introduction to this changing relationship.
McClellan and Dorn review the historical record beginning with the thinking and tool making of prehistoric humans. Neolithic people, for example, developed metallurgy of a sort, using naturally occurring raw copper, and kept systematic records of the moon's phases. Neolithic craftsmen possessed practical knowledge of the behavior of clay, fire, and other elements of their environment, but though they may have had explanations for the phenomena of their crafts, they toiled without any systematic science of materials or the self-conscious application of theory to practice.
Without neglecting important figures of Western science such as Newton and Einstein, the authors demonstrate the great achievements of non-Western cultures. They remind us that scientific traditions took root in China, India, and Central and South America, as well as in a series of Near Eastern empires, during late antiquity and the Middle Ages, including the vast region that formed the Islamic conquest. From this comparative perspective, the authors explore the emergence of Europe as a scientific and technological power. Continuing their narrative through the Manhattan Project, NASA, and modern medical research, the authors weave the converging histories of science and technology into an integrated, perceptive, and highly readable narrative.
"Professors McClellan and Dorn have written a survey that does not present the historical development of science simply as a Western phenomenon but as the result of wide-ranging human curiosity about nature and attempts to harness its powers in order to serve human needs. This is an impressive amount of material to organize in a single textbook."
- Paula Findlen, Stanford University
01/1999
Philosophie
Interpreting Quebec’s Exile Within the Federation. Selected Political Essays
This book combines the approaches of political theory and of intellectual history to provide a lucid account of Québec's contemporary situation within the Canadian federation. Guy Laforest considers that the province of Québec, and its inhabitants, are exiled within Canada. They are not fully integrated, politically and constitutionally, nor are they leaving the federation, for now and for the foreseeable future. They are in between these two predicaments. Laforest provides insights into the current workings of the Canadian federation, and some of its key figures of the past fifty years, such as Pierre Elliott Trudeau, René Lévesque, Stephen Harper and Claude Ryan. The book also offers thought-provoking studies of thinkers and intellectuals such as James Tully, Michel Seymour and André Burelle. Laforest revisits some key historical documents and events, such as the Durham Report and the 1867 and 1982 constitutional documents. He offers political and constitutional proposals that could contribute to help Québec moving beyond the current predicament of internal exile.
12/1986
Actualité et médias
Performance post-crise
Today's professional environment is dramatically different from that which existed just twenty years ago. The digital revolution is in full swing, and working practices are undergoing some of the biggest changes in history. In addition to this background of change, COVID 19 has had an unprecedented impact on every aspect of modern professional life. This background of change, combined with an additional sudden shock is generating novel challenges, which present difficult questions. What organisational structure is best placed to handle crises such as this ? What are the ingredients of successful remote work ? What is the best way to manage a team remotely ? How should leaders communicate in a crisis ? Beyond these critical issues—and perhaps even more importantly—leaders also need to prepare for the future. How do they ensure the success of an organisation in an uncertain future ? How are they going to secure the talent they need ? To address these questions, this collection brings together contributors from a rich variety of backgrounds, drawing on many combined decades of leadership experience. In addition to sharing answers to many contemporary questions and their personal experience of the recent crisis, they outline their vision of the future of the world of work.
01/2021
Anglais apprentissage
LA VIERGE ET LE GITAN : THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY
When the vicar's wife went off with a young and penniless man the scandal knew no bounds. Her two little girls were only seven and nine years old respectively. And the vicar was such a good husband. True, his hair was grey. But his moustache was dark, he was handsome, and still full of furtive passion for his unrestrained and beautiful wife. Why did she go ? Why did she burst away with such an éclat of revulsion, like a touch of madness ? Nobody gave any answer. Only the pious said she was a bad woman. While some of the good women kept silent. They knew. The two little girls never knew. Wounded, they decided that it was because their mother found them negligible. The ill wind that blows nobody any good swept away the vicarage family on its blast. Then lo and behold ! the vicar, who was somewhat distinguished as an essayist and a controversialist, and whose case had aroused sympathy among the bookish men, received the living of Papplewick. The Lord had tempered the wind of misfortune with a rectorate in the north country. [...] "Lorsque la femme du pasteur s'enfuit avec un jeune homme sans le sou, le scandale ne connut pas de bornes. Ses deux fillettes n'avaient que sept et neuf ans respectivement. Et le pasteur était un si bon mari. Certes, il avait les cheveux gris, mais sa moustache était restée noire, il était bel homme et brûlait encore d'une passion furtive pour sa belle épouse immodeste. Pourquoi était-elle partie ? Pourquoi s'était-elle arrachée à lui, dans un tel éclat de dégoût, comme un grain de folie ? Personne n'apporta de réponse. Seules, les dévotes dirent que c'était une mauvaise femme. Cependant que certaines femmes de bien gardaient le silence. Elles comprenaient, elles. Les deux fillettes ne comprirent jamais. Blessées, elles jugèrent que c'était parce que leur mère les tenait pour quantité négligeable. Le vent du malheur qui est censé être bon à quelque chose balaya de son souffle les habitants de la cure. Puis, miracle, le pasteur, qui avait une certaine éminence comme essayiste et polémiste, et dont la situation avait su émouvoir certains intellectuels, fut nommé à la paroisse de Papplewick. Le Seigneur avait adouci l'ouragan du malheur par un bénéfice de recteur dans le nord du pays. " [...]
02/1993
Non classé
The German Effect on D.H. Lawrence and his Works 1885-1912
This study analyzes in depth the German effect upon D.H. Lawrence and his works from his birth in 1885 to his departure from England in 1912. German literary, philosophical and musical works had considerable impact on Lawrence's formation as an artist. They also influenced the creation of his own literary theory, entering his life concurrently with the three problems of class, woman and religion, which evolved into his major literary themes. The German effect is thus demonstrated to be the confirmation of Lawrence's strong tendency toward subjectivism in literary art : it strengthened his conviction that his art set him apart from all classes of society ; it encouraged the development of his view of women as the sexual, not the maternal, mediatrix to art ; and it fortified his denial of traditional Christianity and assisted his creation of his personal vitalistic creed.
12/1978
Romans policiers
The tears of the mysterious forest
At the start of the school year in Massata, Galia, an enticing young lady showed up in one of the university classes. Her homeric intelligence and her magical beauty would make her the focus, the subject of monologues and desire. Her allure enticed lecturers and mates, the brightest of the class included. They found her interesting and desirable but mysterious and reluctant about her life. The day before her birthday, the young lady decided to open up to the one she was already falling for. That night, something heart-rending happened.
12/2021
Littérature française
La jangada. .
"La Jangada" is a novel written by the renowned French author Jules Verne. This adventure novel is part of Verne's extraordinary voyages series and features the Amazon River as its central setting. The story follows the journey of a Brazilian family aboard the riverboat Jangada. As they navigate the mighty Amazon River, they encounter various adventures, challenges, and mysteries. The novel combines elements of exploration, adventure, and romance as the characters explore the exotic and dangerous landscapes of the Amazon rainforest. "La Jangada" is known for its vivid descriptions of the Amazon River and the surrounding environment, offering readers a captivating and immersive experience of this unique setting.
06/1981
Littérature étrangère
Au zénith
Au Zénith est le chef-d'oeuvre de Duong Thu Huong : voici un roman qu'elle portait en elle depuis plus de dix ans, où convergent son combat politique et son talent littéraire. En 1953, le président - c'est ainsi que l'auteur le nomme, mais on comprend très vite qu'il s'agit de Ho Chi Minh - tombe éperdument amoureux, à plus de soixante ans, d'une très jeune femme. Avec elle, il fonde une famille, qu'il installe à Hanoi dès la reconquête de la capitale. Mais il n'est pas un homme ordinaire, il est le père de la nation, et quand lui vient le souhait d'officialiser son union, les ministres, dont il a favorisé l'ascension, lui font valoir que cette affaire privée le ferait descendre de son piédestal politique. Le président cède, croyant choisir une légitime raison d'État. De ce jour, sa vie bascule. Sa jeune compagne est assassinée, ses enfants recueillis par des proches, et le pouvoir effectif lui échappe : cachés derrière sa figure tutélaire, ses anciens compagnons construisent un régime dont les fondements sont bien éloignés des combats de leur jeunesse commune. Pour donner toute sa mesure à ce drame intime et politique, l'écrivain déploie une construction romanesque époustouflante, juxtaposant quatre points de vue narratifs. Celui du président qui, à la fin de sa vie, pendant la guerre contre les Américains, avec pour seuls compagnons les soldats qui le surveillent et les bonzesses de la pagode voisine, tente d'éclairer les méandres de son propre parcours. Celui de son meilleur ami, Vu, qui élève son fils, et dont la propre femme, une ancienne révolutionnaire pure et dure comme lui, symbolise désormais la corruption au pouvoir. Parenthèse bucolique et contrepoint à l'intrigue principale : Duong Thu Huong raconte comment un vieil homme respecté dans son Village des bûcherons est parvenu, non sans difficultés, à imposer son union avec une femme de quarante ans plus jeune que lui. Dernier point de vue : celui du beau-frère de la jeune épouse sacrifiée. Fou de douleur, ce Compatriote inconnu ne survit que pour se venger. Au long de cette fresque impressionnante, l'écrivain - héraut des idéaux bafoués que le président a portés jusqu'au bout - élucide, sans jamais porter de jugement, un destin d'autant plus tragique qu'il s'est joué d'un être bien réel et maître du pouvoir.
01/2009
Littérature étrangère
Les Paradis aveugles
Tout comme Roman sans titre, initialement paru aux Éditions des Femmes en 1992, et réédité par Sabine Wespieser éditeur en 2010, Les Paradis aveugles n’est pas une nouveauté.
Il s’agit d’un des premiers romans de Duong Thu Huong, paru en 1988 au Vietnam, où il s’est vendu à plus de quarante mille exemplaires. La réalité qu’il dénonce – la Réforme agraire initiée en 1953 et ses conséquences désastreuses sur la société vietnamienne – de même que son succès ont conduit à l’arrestation de son auteur trois années plus tard. La première édition des Paradis aveugles en France, également aux Éditions des Femmes, date précisément de 1991.
Hàng, la jeune héroïne de ce roman, travaille en URSS, comme nombre de Vietnamiens alors. Elle est appelée à Moscou, au chevet de son oncle malade. C’est l’occasion pour elle d’une plongée dans un passé douloureux.
Son oncle Chinh en effet, fonctionnaire zélé du Parti communiste, fut l’un des ardents serviteurs de cette Réforme qui ravagea les campagnes. La mère de Hàng, par piété fraternelle et par respect des traditions, n’osa jamais s’opposer aux diktats édictés par son frère. Et quand enfin il tomba en disgrâce, elle continua de le soutenir : « La Réforme agraire, comme un ouragan, avait dévasté champs et rizières, semé la désolation. On se racontait publiquement les malheurs, les injustices subis. On invoquait à haute voix l'âme des innocents massacrés. Dans les demeures, les lampes à huile brûlaient toute la nuit. Les maisons ouvraient leurs portes, les conversations roulaient, les réunions battaient leur plein... On réclamait le châtiment des délateurs, la réhabilitation de l'honneur bafoué, le règlement des dettes de sang... De tous, oncle Chinh était le plus haï. Personne ne savait où il s'était caché. Pour assouvir la vengeance des villageois, seules restaient ma mère et la maison des ancêtres. Une nuit, la foule surexcitée, armée de bâtons et de couteaux, encercla la maison, et somma ma mère de venir régler les dettes de sang accumulées par son frère ».
Dans ce livre de jeunesse, Duong Thu Huong fait déjà montre de la puissance d’évocation qu’elle déploiera dans ses grands romans ultérieurs. Chant d’amour à un Vietnam démembré, ce livre d’où sourd une puissante nostalgie interroge le paradis marxiste… celui de tous les aveuglements.
11/2012
Littérature asiatique
Terre des oublis
Alors qu'elle rentre d'une journée en forêt, Miên, une jeune femme vietnamienne, se heurte à un attroupement : l'homme qu'elle avait épousé quatorze ans auparavant et qu'on croyait mort en héros est revenu. Entre-temps Miên s'est remariée avec un riche propriétaire terrien, Hoan, qu'elle aime et avec qui elle a un enfant. Mais Bôn, le vétéran communiste,
réclame sa femme. Sous la pression de la communauté, Miên retourne vivre avec son premier mari. Au fil d'une narration éblouissante, l'auteur plonge dans le passé de ces trois personnages, victimes d'une société pétrie de principes moraux et politiques, tout en évoquant avec bonheur la vie quotidienne de son pays, ses sons, ses odeurs, ses couleurs... Terre des oublis, roman de l'après-guerre du Viêt-Nam, est un livre magistral.
08/2007
Littérature asiatique
Myosotis
Douée d'une vitalité et d'un talent extraordinaires, Suong à la voix de cristal aime ardemment le musicien Hung. Obstinée, ingénue, elle ne dispense aucun pardon, aucune morale, ne ressasse aucun regret malgré l'incompréhension et le cynisme qui se lèvent avec la paix, au Viêt-nam.
Ce roman d'amour, tissé de souvenirs et nourri du lyrisme des voix et des odeurs de l'enfance, nous laisse éblouis devant tant d'enthousiasme face à la médiocrité, devant cette énergie intacte face à la déchéance douloureuse et au désespoir portés par son amant Hung, le véritable héros du livre, qui ne parvient plus à s'accorder à lui-même et avec son art.
Ce livre, qui n'a pas encore été publié au Viêt-nam, paraît cet automne en France pour sa première édition.
01/2023
Littérature étrangère
Les collines d'eucalyptus
Les collines d'eucalyptus. Derrière les barreaux de sa prison, Thanh contemple les derniers lambeaux de brume sur la paroi rocheuse qui lui tient désormais lieu d'horizon. Il a été condamné aux travaux forcés. Parce que ce jeune homme sans histoire, excellent élève et fils modèle, a découvert très tôt son homosexualité et qu'il lui a paru insurmontable de l'avouer à ses parents, son destin a basculé. Comment il est tombé sous la coupe d'un mauvais garçon avec qui il a fui sa ville natale et comment il s'est retrouvé piégé, c'est le fatal et poignant engrenage que Duong Thu Huong met en scène. Thanh est désespérément seul pour cette descente dans les cercles de son enfer intime. Il ne peut confier à personne les affres de sa relation avec son compagnon qui, en parfait manipulateur, joue de l'attirance physique qu'il exerce pour vivre à ses crochets. Honteux de sa faiblesse et de sa lâcheté, Thanh se garde bien de demander conseil à Tiên Lai, l'homme mûr en qui il a pourtant le sentiment d'avoir rencontré un alter ego. A Dalat, où ils végètent comme ramasseurs de balles sur des cours de tennis, Thanh n'a pas la force d'éconduire son mauvais génie. Il s'enfuit en vain à Saigon, croyant trouver refuge dans l'anonymat de la métropole. Si l'issue de cette sombre liaison est bien fatale, Duong Thu Huong écrit pourtant un roman de la rédemption. Son jeune héros, dont les tribulations lui donnent la matière d'une vertigineuse plongée dans le Vietnam de la fin des années 80, ne finira pas au bagne. Les Collines d'eucalyptus est une somptueuse variation sur le thème du retour de l'enfant prodigue, un roman éclairé par la compassion et l'intelligence humaine qu'un écrivain au sommet de son talent témoigne à ses personnages.
01/2014
