Le vent du nord dans les fougères glacées by Patrick Chamoiseau (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Le vent du nord dans les fougères glacées by Patrick Chamoiseau Jane E. Evans Chamoiseau, Patrick. Le vent du nord dans les fougères glacées. Seuil, 2022. ISBN 978-2-02-147041-3. Pp. 336. The protagonist of this novel, Boulianno Nérélé Isiklaire, a renowned maître conteur, has disappeared. His admirers, speculating on his whereabouts, recall his storytelling talents and mishaps in Part I of the novel: “Le silence de Boulianno.” These other characters, mentioned by name but not elaborated further, piece together their information in the hope of sending a search party to a limited area to find him. They include Man Delcas, a basket weaver and Boulianno’s contemporary; Bèbert-la-science, a mathematician-philosopher; the unidentified narrator, who uses “je” and “nous” with the audience, but addresses Chamoiseau, the author, formally with the second-person pronoun “vous;” the “anecdote” (32), seen as an unimportant young woman whose name nobody remembers; and Boulianno, the protagonist, who comes alive thanks to the descriptions that others give of him. Part I of the novel also abounds with cultural details, such as the fact that most conteurs designate a male successor before their retirement, unlike Boulianno. One learns as well that the “anecdote” has come from far away not only to meet the protagonist, but to inform him that she would like to be the first recognized conteuse to carry on his traditional storytelling. Her revelation, deemed scandalous by the conservative community because women cannot be storytellers, imparts a feeling of distrust among the villagers. Another dimension of the cultural richness of Le Vent du Nord dans les fougères glacées pertains to its language usage: expressions in créole designating storytelling expressions and perhaps, the educational diversity of the audience, precede their French counterparts. For example, Boulianno says, “Tiré mwen la, man pa byen la! Sortez-moi de là, je ne suis pas bien là”! (25). And the novel conveys the reality of scholars among its population by including references in footnotes to local professors and experts in sociology and history, for instance. In Parts II and III of the novel, “Convoi vers Boulianno” and “Gloriye Boulianno,” respectively, the characters merely sketched in Part I evolve into active participants in the narrative. Besides enriching the present time of the story, the information about each one’s past contributes to their becoming memorable entities. For instance, the “anecdote,” through her naturalness when confronted with unexpected circumstances such as rough terrain, fallen fellow hikers, and the necessity to help them physically, impresses everyone: thus, they can retain her name, Anaïs-Alicia Carmélite. In a similar way, after sharing his own failure as a conteur, the narrator identifies himself as “Osphare Tertullien Philogène” (123). Populo, a young man keen on replacing Boulianno as a conteur, and therefore Anaïs-Alicia’s competition, becomes romantically involved with her. Progressively, the characters outlined in Boulianno’s story (Part I) become the key figures of a second “quest” narration that culminates in discovering Boulianno’s body in Part III. Ultimately, Chamoiseau has produced a polyphonic [End Page 234] and polyvalent narrative paying homage to his humble Caribbean origins through its use of cultural details, diverse linguistic registers, and intellectually-supported narrations. [End Page 235] Jane E. Evans University of Texas, El Paso Copyright © 2023 American Association of Teachers of French