La Vie et demie

by Sony Labou Tansi

Chaïdana et les siens sont le jouet d’une violence sans fin : le Guide Providentiel fait régner sur le peuple de Katamalanasie sa dictature absurde et sanglante. Dans ce pays maudit, les vivants ont à peine le droit de vivre et les morts refusent de mourir. Les guerres, les croyances et les amours se succèdent, déroulant la fable visionnaire d’un monde bien réel. Sony Labou Tansi est né en 1947 au Congo où il a vécu jusqu’à sa mort en 1995. Romancier, poète et dramaturge, il est l’auteur de six romans, dont Les Sept Solitudes de Lorsa Lopez qui est disponible en Points, et d’une douzaine de pièces de théâtre. La Vie et demie est son roman le plus célèbre.

Genres: Africa, Fiction, African Literature, France, 20th Century, Novels, Roman

176 pages, Pocket Book

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Sony Lab'ou Tansi (5 July 1947 - 14 June 1995), born Marcel Ntsoni, was a Congolese novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and poet. Though he was only 47 when he died, Tansi remains one of the most prolific African writers and the most internationally renowned practitioner of the "New African Writing." His novel The Antipeople won the Grand Prix Littéraire d'Afrique Noire. In his later years, he ran a theatrical company in Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo.

Reviews

[Audrey RZR · Rating 2 out of 5]

Malheureusement ce roman et moi, ça ne l'a pas fait.

Emprunté à la médiathèque pour le club de lecture de #Naabolita, j'ai lu le premier chapitre du livre (33 pages sur 192) et j'ai décidé de l'abandonner malheureusement.

La vie et demie est une fable satirique très sombre où nous nous trouvons plongés dans un Etat totalitaire d'Afrique, fictif mais largement inspiré de ceux qui existent.
Dès les premières pages, les descriptions loufoques et écoeurantes des crimes commis m'ont déplus.
Le gore est en effet au rendez-vous et pas qu'un peu.

J'ai trouvé le style insipide, l'intrigue décousue et n'étant pas fan de l'absurde, la lecture de ce livre ne m'a apporté aucun plaisir.

J'ai donc décidé de ne pas poursuivre ma lecture même si le sujet est important et que l'absurde a son intérêt et pourra certainement faire le plaisir d'autres lecteurs.

[tourbe · Rating 5 out of 5]

wouah

[Bonadext · Rating 5 out of 5]

La vita e mezza è un romanzo breve sulla sacralità della vita umana, in chiave originalissima e folle. Pubblicato nel 1979 è stato un'innovazione nel panorama sub-sahariano francofono dell'epoca, io aggiungerei che è stato una “genialata”, e come scrive nella prefazione lo stesso autore è una favola creata interamente nella sua mente, che ci parla dell'assurdità dell'assurdo e che inaugura l'assurdità della disperazione.

Questa favola moderna in vesti africane si colloca fuori da ogni costrizione temporale, dove è in atto un susseguirsi di terribili e sanguinarie dittature che porteranno ad una dimensione “quasi” mitica e/o apocalittica dell'Africa (o del mondo intero?), dove l'autore lancia il suo messaggio di speranza per il futuro.

Il tutto ruota attorno alla profetica figura di Marziale, a sua figlia e a sua nipote, che combattono una lunga serie di guerre civili contro le dittature, ognuno a modo loro (le donne sfruttando la bellezza dei propri corpi), e dove il paradosso che attraversa il romanzo si ricollega ai più antichi miti e alle più lontane religioni, ma è anche un'allegoria dell'opposizione alla disumana dittatura.

Lo stile e la scrittura mi hanno ricordato molto quelli di J.G. Ballard e di Jonas Jonasson, sempre molto ironici e di facile intuizione...
Insomma è una lettura che consiglio a tutti i lettori esigenti e sognatori come me, per chi vuole leggere qualcosa di non scontato e ordinario senza cadere nel banale!

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book really grew on me. At first I was confused by the plot, horrified by the violence, and generally wishing I didn’t have to read it for class. But there were parts that I genuinely enjoyed, and by the end I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

[K's Bognoter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dybsort congolesisk satire. Intens og kompakt, voldsom og brutal, grotesk og fantasifuld, begavet morsom og samtidig stærkt deprimerende. Men også lidt for meget og i nogle stræk tæt på enerverende.
Læs hele min anmeldelse på K’s bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2021/05/29/sony-l...

[Anna Pardo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uf, quin llibre més complex i desconcertant. Sens dubte una idea molt bona, però no estic segura que la forma que adopta sigui la millor per fer entenedor el missatge. Això,.i que em recordés tant a un altre llibre que tracta el mateix amb molt més èxit, no li han fet massa favor. Ara, alhora una lectura molt interessant!

[Alina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half was very engaging. I cared about the story of Chaidana, but once we begin to follow the 1000 sons of a dictator named Patatra (the second-half of the book), I lost all interest. I skipped several passages. If this book had maintained the energy of the first half/two-thirds I would have given this book 4 stars, but it didn't.

This novel is heavy with magical realism. It follows a series of guides (dictators of the fictional Republic of Katamalanasie, loosely inspired by the Congo). They are in constant war with the spirit of the Martial, who along with his family, is murdered at the start of the book. Only his daughter Chaidana survives. She is forced to marry the Guide Providentiel. Nevertheless, she has several tricks up her sleeves, including poisoning administrators with champagne. When I say this is a weird story, I'm not exaggerating. The beginning is also extremely violent, so be prepared. If you like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, you might like this novel. I would read other books by Tansi, but I must admit that this novel took a lot out of me.

[Jammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il faut être un peu fou pour écrire ça je pense.

[Stella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Grozno, ampak svaka cast, da je avtor napisal tako knjigo.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

The subject matter of the book means that it is a tough read at times, but it skillfully captures the link between tyranny and absurdity. Beautifully written, wide in scope and quite possibly brilliant.

Note that the violence in this book has an unreality to it but is also very extreme. If you can make it through the first chapter you will likely be ok for the rest; in my opinion, it is worth it.

[Starlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This entrail spilled magical realist novel about a dictator and his opponents is perhaps the most twisted and absurd tragedy on the corruptive influence of language, power and politics. And although the translation flows quite well I can't help but feel the power and the impact of many of the puns are lost.

Definitely a strange book. Some of the most gory scenes read like something out of a Buster Keaton film.

[Tuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

turned back to his Four Seasons meat, which he cut and ate with the same bloody knife." ?

a gruesome fiction of what the big man gets up to in africa. he takes, he stuffs his face, he fucks, he kills. he gives to his family and friends, he protects the weak. a fascinating novel written is vernacular, but rendered in english. a must read for modern afica lit philes.

[Vanessa Wolosz · Rating 4 out of 5]

tansi said "let me make the body politics intrinsic to spivak's postcolonial theory and make them as literal and gruesome as possible" and then peppered in the rhetoric of censorship in the most heavy-handed way possible. prolific.

[Geoffrey Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know what to think of this.
The behavior and manners of the Providential Guide remind me of Latin American 'magical realism' including an all powerful leader, something like that of Garcia-Marquez. I'm not familiar with African dictators/strong men, so this is new territory for me.
Thank goodness this is not 'stream-of-consciousness' writing - a much easier read.
You start with a new country, ruled over by the Providential Guide - a dictator so mad and powerful that he can declare anything true, and it is accepted as such by the people. As 4-5 generations go by, further guides assume power, each more deranged than those passed. The difference is that the people are getting tired of this - so tired that a group of 'revolutionaries' takes control of a province & (de facto) secedes. Of course a war occurs, destroying most of the countries. By the end, you have a 1 (of 30) revolutionaries still alive; his wife points out to him that 30+ years have passed, & the revolutionary remembers nothing of it (or of his family life ... .
So we are back to the beginning of the cycle, where 1 person can start ruling a country he remembers not at all, ... .

[Pep Bonet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quel plaisir de lecture ! Voici un livre magique, "tropical", même si le mot semble une insulte à le lire dans les pages de l'ouvrage. Une histoire impossible, irréelle, qui ressemble terriblement la réalité. Je suis sûr qu'il y a énormément d'éléments du réel repérables par ceux qui connaissent mieux la réalité congolaise, voire africaine. Le tout est baigné d'un sens de l'exagération et la démesure qui le rend passionnant. J'ai vraiment aimé.

[Laurence Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sony Labou Tansi’s Life and a Half is a biting and at times grotesque fable satirizing the social and political oppression in the fictitious African country depicted in the novel. Somewhat convoluted at points, the novel is nonetheless insightful and engaging in its portrayal of the horrors and absurdity of the world Tansi presents.

[Chema Caballero · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clásico africano que no es de fácil lectura. En la secuela de Henri Lopes sobre los abusos de poder en África tras las independencias. Interesante crítica y el protagonismo que otorga a las mujeres. Quizás no ha envejecido bien

[Clarita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Livre dont le style m'a beaucoup fait penser à Boris Vian

[Anabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 étoiles

Très violent
Réflexion fascinante sur le corps dans un régime totalitaire

La première moitié m'a semblée plus intéressante que la seconde

[Harry Rutherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my book from the Democratic Republic of the Congo for the Read The World challenge (which was still the Belgian Congo when Sony Lab’ou Tansi was born and was Zaire when he died).

It is yet another book about dictatorship — a sequence of dictatorships in this case, each as violent and capricious as the one before. From the very first scene, in which a man refuses to die even as his body is hacked into ever smaller pieces in front of his family, it is unremittingly brutal and full of impossible things. It is, um, mythic? symbolic? surreal? I suppose you could call it magical realism, except I don’t think it fits in the realist tradition at all.

As I say, it is about a sequence of dictators, and one of the striking aspects of the book is the sense of violence just spawning more violence. So in the first few chapters it is focussed on a handful of protagonists and it seems like it is about violence, politics and revenge on that personal level. But then they die and the focus moves on to the next generation, but it still seems like a family story; then it moves on again, and again, and everything that seemed specific and personal — all the particular details and motivations — increasingly just seem to be part of the pattern.

It’s dark, poetic and certainly worth reading.

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sony Lab'ou Tansi was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, when it was a Belgian colony. His family moved to the Republic of the Congo (former French colony) where he learnt French and English. He became a teacher, a government administrator and ran a theatre group. He was committed to democracy and campaigned for it through his work, but it was under the democratically elected government that he himself suffered restrictions.

This short novel is one of many plays, screenplays, novels, letters and poems he wrote.
It is not an easy or pleasant read. It is a dark, brutal, almost visceral, satirical story. In addition to the subject matter, the style is complex and full of allusions.
This book should come with a warning that it may turn you vegetarian, or even put you off eating at all. It won't do a lot for champagne sales either.
It is very well done, but I can't say I enjoyed it. That makes giving a rating difficult: do I score it for how much I liked it or for the author's achievement in writing it. Four stars is mainly for the book, not the enjoyment of it.
A definite plus is the translation. It is very difficult to translate word play. Alison Dundy here has done a good job.

[Yamini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, captivating, but also so, so disturbing. I'm not an easy person to gross out, so don't read this if you have a weak stomach. I loved it but not without having to take frequent breaks from the gruesome descriptions of eating flesh. At the same time, however, a very powerful way to deal with Labou Tansi's issues with the Congo.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very strong, beautiful, cruel, horrible and fascinating as only black Africa can be. Not for everybody. It doesn't happen me very often to read two times a book, but this one is worth. Artaud? Bataille? Alfred Jarry? What else? A tropical nightmare.

[Lunga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant!

[Janet Alain · Rating 4 out of 5]

In memory of Sony who shared with me his vision of Africa, while he was in residence at the La Napoule Art Foundation (chateau Henry Clews).

[Andrew De Sousa · Rating 1 out of 5]

6/10

[John Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colonialism fucking sucks. So does racism.

[Pauline · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars