THE SILENCE OF THE SPIRITS
GLOBAL AFRICAN VOICES
Dominic Thomas, editor
I Was an Elephant Salesman: Adventures between Dakar, Paris, and Milan
Pap Khouma, Edited by Oreste Pivetta
Translated by Rebecca Hopkins
Introduction by Graziella Parati
Little Mother: A Novel
Cristina Ali Farah
Translated by Giovanna Bellesia-Contuzzi and Victoria Offredi Poletto
Introduction by Alessandra Di Maio
Life and a Half: A Novel
Sony Labou Tansi
Translated by Alison Dundy
Introduction by Dominic Thomas
Transit: A Novel
Abdourahman A. Waberi
Translated by David Ball and
Nicole Ball
Cruel City: A Novel
Mongo Beti
Translated by Pim Higginson
Blue White Red: A Novel
Alain Mabanckou
Translated by Alison Dundy
The Past Ahead: A Novel
Gilbert Gatore
Translated by Marjolijn de Jager
Queen of Flowers and Pearls: A Novel
Gabriella Ghermandi
Translated by Giovanna Bellesia-Contuzzi and Victoria Offredi Poletto
The Shameful State: A Novel
Sony Labou Tansi
Translated by Dominic Thomas
Foreword by Alain Mabanckou
Kaveena
Boubacar Boris Diop
Translated by Bhakti Shringarpure
and Sara C. Hanaburgh
Murambi, The Book of Bones
Boubacar Boris Diop
Translated by Fiona Mc Laughlin
The Heart of the Leopard Children
Wilfried N’Sondé
Translated by Karen Lindo
Harvest of Skulls
Abdourahman A. Waberi
Translated by Dominic Thomas
Jazz and Palm Wine
Emmanuel Dongala
Translated by Dominic Thomas
THE SILENCE OF THE SPIRITS
WILFRIED N’SONDÉ
Translated by KAREN LINDO
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
Original publication in French as
Le Silence des esprits
© 2010 Actes Sud
English translation © 2017 by Indiana University Press
All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: N’Sondé, Wilfried, author. | Lindo, Karen, translator.
Title: The silence of the spirits / Wilfried N’Sondé ; translated by Karen Lindo.
Other titles: Silence des esprits. English | Global African voices.
Description: Bloomington, Ind. : Indiana University Press, 2017. | Series: Global African voices | “Original publication in French as Le Silence des esprits (c) 2010 Actes Sud.” | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017008799 (print) | LCCN 2017009714 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253028945 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780253029072 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Africans—France—Fiction. | Illegal aliens—France—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PQ 3989.3.N76 S5513 2017 (print) | LCC PQ 3989.3.N76 (ebook) | DDC 843.92—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017008799
1 2 3 4 5 22 21 20 19 18 17
To Paul N’Sondé . . . and other martyrs
Because it is not enough to live, you must also be beautiful!
SERGE MNSA N’SONDÉ
And then he brought another horse, red. Whoever mounted it received the power to remove peace from earth, so that men could cut each other’s throats.
APOCALYPSE, VI, 4
The moon had flowered from my green chrysanthemums
When the wolves secretly recited anathema.
In the lowlands, requiems are the rage.
A weary prayer pronounced like a presage:
Cain today is armed with an axe,
In a cowardly gesture, he has again struck,
He spits out like a vampire his lifeless victim
Then tramples on the rhymes that yesterday I had gathered!
My body goes out beneath his sad smile
To escape mornings that terrify and cause suffering.
Cain today is armed with an axe,
In a cowardly gesture, he has again struck.
My mother had woven my shroud of diamonds
Because injured too often my heart bled a long time!
He spits out like a vampire his lifeless victim
Then tramples on the rhymes that yesterday I had gathered.