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Alain Gerber translated by Jeremy Leggatt |
THE SLAVE TRAIL | ||
THE SLAVE
TRAIL
LOW
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This metaphysical adventure story is a fascinating quest to unravel the
mystery of creativity.
“It made me think of a new Poe retranslated by a reincarnated Baudelaire.
The symbols here are set in place with such perfect transparency, the
form is so ‘impeccable’ … that one is truly swept up into this new quest
for the absolute.” “An odd book, a Voltairean tale, symbolic and psychological, nightmarish
and indulgent about the human frailty of men of letters.… One takes pleasure
in reading it.” “…The Slave Trail is a very Conradian novel: at the end of the
voyage (of initiation), there is the discovery of horror.” The romantic image of the tropics as a paradise where life is simpler
and better receives a death-blow in this short, lyrical, symbolic adventure
tale. Clement Calderanz, haughty French writer short on inpsiration but
long on ego, follows an old slave trail on a seldom-visited Caribbean
island where he has come to recharge his batteries by throwing off the
shackles of civilization. Accompanying him is his skeptical literary protege,
Paul; wife Nathalie, with whom Paul is secretly having an affair; and
Tom, a Canadian-American writer from Brooklyn and Paris who also lusts
after Nathalie. Their quest for Eden grows ever more illusory as jealousies
and professional rivalries surface. Is Colonel Paradise, the notorious
bandit sought by Calderanz, really a hunted ex-slave, or is his legend
an invention of the natives, created to dupe white intruders? In exposing
the "vast, sumptuous lie" of the tropics as envisioned by Westerners,
French novelist Gerber (Rumor of an Elephant) also probes the mindset
of native peoples who are captive to their own myths and insularity. Leggatt's
deft translation captures the delicious ironies of a highly original writer.
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ALAIN GERBER, author of fifteen books, has won several awards in France, including the Bourse Goncourt de la Nouvelle and the Grand Prix du Roman de la Ville de Paris. His novels Rumor of an Elephant and The Short Happy Life of Mister Ghichka were also published by Mercury House to critical acclaim. Gerber lives in Paris.
JEREMY LEGGATT was educated in India, England, and France. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Oxford University and has been a journalist for Réalités magazine, the French Broadcasting System, the United Nations, and the Reader’s Digest, among others. He has translated works from French, German, and Italian.
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