Το μεγάλο σπίτι

by Charif Majdalani, Γιάννης Στρίγκος (Translator)

Στα τέλη του 19ου αιώνα στον Λίβανο, ο Ουακίμ Νασάρ, μετά από κάποια περίεργα γεγονότα, αναγκάζεται να εγκαταλείψει το χωριό του. Με ό,τι χρήματα του έχουν απομείνει, αποφασίζει να εισαγάγει την καλλιέργεια του πορτοκαλιού σε μια περιοχή όπου ως τώρα καλλιεργούνταν μονάχα ελιές και μουριές. Το παράτολμο εγχείρημά του πετυχαίνει. Στη συνέχεια φτιάχνει μια μεγάλη οικογένεια και χτίζει το περιβόητο Μεγάλο Σπίτι, σύμβολο της επιτυχίας και της δύναμής του. Αποκτά τον σεβασμό των κατοίκων της περιοχής, καθώς, εκτός από δυναμικός, είναι δίκαιος, μεγαλόψυχος και βοηθά όσο περισσότερο μπορεί τους ανθρώπους γύρω του.

Tα χρόνια όμως της ευημερίας και της οικογενειακής ευτυχίας θα τα διαδεχτούν τα σκοτεινά χρόνια του πολέμου, που θα αλλάξουν τα πάντα. Τα πάντα, εκτός από τον οικογενειακό πυρήνα που θα παραμείνει αναλλοίωτος, σταθερή αξία που θα αναδειχθεί τελικά δυνατότερη απ' οτιδήποτε άλλο.

Μέσα από μια εκθαμβωτική αφήγηση, ο Σαρίφ Μαζνταλάνι ζωντανεύει ένα συναρπαστικό οικογενειακό έπος, περιγράφοντας με απαράμιλλα χρώματα την άνοδο, το απόγειο και την παρακμή της φαμίλιας των Νασάρ, της οποίας τα μέλη δεν θα χάσουν ποτέ την ελπίδα τους και θα δικαιωθούν από τον χρόνο. Χάρη σε αυτό το μυθιστόρημα, ο Μαζνταλάνι χαρακτηρίστηκε ως ο "Προυστ του Λιβάνου".

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Lebanon, Middle East, Historical, France, Roman

328 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2005

About the author

Charif Majdalani quitte son pays en 1980 à destination de la France pour suivre des études de lettres modernes à l'université d'Aix-en-Provence. Il revient au Liban en 1993 après avoir soutenu sa thèse sur Antonin Artaud.

Dans un premier temps, il occupe un poste d'enseignant à l'université de Balamand puis à l'université Saint-Joseph où il est professeur de lettres.

À partir de 1995, il participe à la revue d'opposition L'Orient-Express, en charge de la rubrique littéraire. Cette collaboration s'achèvera en 1998 année de la cessation de publication de ce journal.

En 1999, Charif Majdalani revient à l'enseignement dans l'université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth où il est en charge du département de Lettres Françaises. Ce poste lui permet d'accueillir des romanciers français et libanais. Lors du sommet de la francophonie 2002, il publie un livre Le petit traité des mélanges. Parallèlement à l'enseignement, on peut lire sous sa plume une chronique mensuelle publiée dans le journal La Montagne.

"Villa des femmes" obtient le Prix Transfuge du meilleur roman arabe.

Reviews

[Fran Sheehan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been anxiously awaiting this novel via the public library's interlibrary loan system. Told as narrative by a later descendant of the Nassar family, the novel tells the history of a Lebanese family spanning several generations and the effects of their struggles and successes on the family home that the patriarch, Wakim Nasssar builds in the late 1800's. I did enjoy it but would have an appreciated more dialogue and plot.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

"He fell quiet again and slumped back into his armchair with a lost, faraway look in his eyes, muttering in protest that he would never ever talk about it, that it was a story from a bygone age, that nothing was worth waking the dead."

A History of the Big House is the story of Wakim Nassar, banished from his village, who has the audacious idea to make an orange plantation. What follows is the story of how he becomes the head of a large clan that is feared and respected.

I really found this to be a fascinating read. I haven't read much from or about Lebanon, so it was very interesting to explore the culture and history during the late 1800s/start 1900s, following this one family on its rise to power and fall from glory. What was really fascinating was the writing. Our narrator is predominantly telling the story of his grandfather - some of it is facts about the country, some of it is family recollection, and some of it is just him completely making it up to tell a good story. That also means that they would imagine different scenarios that could have happened and we would be presented with them all, before the narrator chooses the one that he thinks fits best with the vision of his grandfather. I am not sure if I really liked it or not, but it certainly made for a unique reading experience.

However, it also sometimes made for a very repetitive reading experience as we had to go through a lot of thought experiments. And sometimes it just became too much. It also means that I don't really feel like the novel had a cohesive story. Instead, I am left more with feelings and impressions of what happened and what it was about. I will also say that what really dragged this book down for me was the last part, which felt pretty unnecessary. Instead of ending the story on a bang, we were left with more of a whimper. Which was just a shame.

Ultimately, I think I would recommend it just for a unique reading experience. It felt like one of the books I would read in school and really love to analyse everything going on. So if you want a book like that, then this could be the one for you.

[hiaa123 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The rise and fall of the Nassars, an Orthodox Christian family in Lebanon in the late 19th and early 20th century. We get the story through our narrator who is piecing together his family history based on anecdotes he gets from his father, aunts, and uncles, largely using his imagination to fill in the gaps.

Most of the book follows our narrator's grandfather, Wakim Nassar, an epic hero who is larger than life who sets out and creates prosperity through his orange trees, eventually coming to ruin after the events of WWI and later his son's actions. Wakim's story was interesting to follow, though we never get to fully see a depth of character, probably because our narrator never knew him personally. It probably makes him more of a heroic figure. The last part of the book, the decline, was less engaging and pretty depressing. The ending felt pretty anticlimactic.

I enjoyed learning about life in Lebanon in those days. A great family saga. I did feel like this was very much a man's world and though women eventually appear, we never really leave the realm of men in the story. I always find that disappointing.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. An interesting premise for this novel: piecing together a family history through a combination of what relatives remember and total imagination to fill in the gaps. The book gets 4 stars for the way it situated the events in the context of Orthodox Christian life in Lebanon during the final years of Ottoman rule. Unfortunately the family history itself was a mix of interesting moments and parts that kind of dragged. Not a bad read overall.

[Regan]

Review up on the Asymptote blog (https://www.asymptotejournal.com/blog...)! "In Ruth Diver’s translation, the earnestness, jubilation, and confidence with which Majdalani’s narrator renders the Nassar clan’s history shows that all great stories might be most authentic at the intersection of strict reality and imaginative reconstruction."

[Lina Ghantous · Rating 5 out of 5]

J ai adoré ce livre. Charif nous fait baigner dans la douceur du vieux Liban. Je voulais pas que ça se termine

[laila! · Rating 4 out of 5]

review on dc arts duh!

[Diane Shugart · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars: I was drawn by the premise and enjoyed how it flowed. But.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant engaging book about a Lebanese extended family, their relationships to each other, to the larger society, a changing world.

[Anya Räsänen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical and long, but fascinating

[Kristen White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow first 40ish percent of the book. It was challenging to root for Wakim or the author for quite a while, not necessarily because they’re unlikable but I didn’t understand their motives. But eventually the pace picks up. A reddit recommendation that only sort of panned out. I do feel like I understand a lot more about the fall of the Ottoman’s and Lebanon history

[samouche · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

beaucoup de descriptions et de personnages (faut s'accrocher au début) mais c'est très bien écrit surtout pour un roman contemporain, les trois parties sont intéressantes (la première un peu longue) où on retrouve un contexte politique libanais différent à chaque fois