La marque du feu
ISBN: 9782211070010
ISBN10: 2211070019
Release Date: January 1, 1989
Publisher: École des loisirs
About the Book
ABOUT THE BOOK
This French translation of Thomas' award-winning novel was published by L'école des loisirs, a house dedicated to works for children. French author and editor, Geneviève Chatouillot writes the following on the book:
In Ponca City, a small town in the American South during the 1950s, women in the Black community make a living picking cotton. The region is constantly threatened by tornadoes and floods; into this violent climate, a baby girl is born—Abyssinia...
As musical as a Negro Spiritual and as colorful as naive art, this book often evokes the Bible: episodes of curses alternate with moments of love and hope in short, rhythmic sequences.
Powerful characters inhabit its pages—such as Mother Barker, a soothsayer and healer who recognizes young Abyssinia as the heir to a lineage of charismatic women: bearers of culinary,
medical, and religious traditions. This novel is a tribute to them and to Black Americans. It celebrates the beauty of eyes and skin—and the violence of destinies that mirror the violence of the climate. The writing appeals to senses of taste, hearing, and touch. Archetypal symbols regain their full vitality. All this gives the novel—despite being set in the 1950s—the timeless tone of a folktale or an old lullaby. A beautiful translation; one longs to read the gospel excerpts in the original language.
— Geneviève Chatouillot (1945–2018)
More information about the original English publication can be found HERE.