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Enslaved and brought to French Guiana to be sold as a product, D'Chimbo navigates through the hierarchy of the colonial society using aspects of the Assimilation Law to get out of his condition of slavery and suffering.
Le Nègre du Gouverneur, chronique coloniale (The Governor's Slave: Colonial Chronicle) shows a physically and mentally strong man and how he uses his objectification to dominate the language, and conquer some dignity to live.
This book was a great surprise to me. It is a short text but quite intriguing.
He calculated the difficulty of your intent. A language seemed to him like a bull that is not easily tamed. The Spanish expression 'mastering a language' perfectly reflects the feeling of proud dominance that the French people translate in erotic terms. Don't they want to 'possess' their language?
D'Chimbo truly wanted to possess his master's language, as he has done to his wife.
D'Chimbo, a Criminal or a Hero?
When I finished the book, I wanted to know more about the historical D'Chimbo. And with the help of the translators (most of the content is in French), I came face to face with a criminal and animalistic D'Chimbo, in a dangerous jungle territory.
At this point, I recognized I was across the same aspects when I was selecting books and authors from French Guiana: the majority of the books (which the searches list first) were by Europeans and essentially about the French penitentiary complex in that region, a place of criminals and danger or the adventures in the jungle.
How many of those descriptions are considerably realistic? How many are an effect of the predominant narrative?
After understanding a little more about the historical rebel D'Chimbo, I enjoyed the book even more. Serge Patiens gave a new look to this historical character, where we can see the irony related to the Assimilation and the humanization of this character.
The historical D'Chimbo was indomitable, almost supernatural, but what if he bowed to European traditions and vocabulary like in the book? Would he get more advantages in society? And could he live free and with some respect?
SPOILER ALERT
Unfortunately, I couldn't find the English version of this book. I discovered that there are translations of this book in 10 languages, including English. But not one piece of information about titles and publications.
I was lucky to find this book in Portuguese in an online second-hand bookshop. From French Guiana, I still found Renee Maran's book Batoula in English. And that was it. However, I still have the challenge of finding a book by a female writer in a language I can read. Anyone could help me with this?
About the Writer
Writer, educator, and politician in French Guiana, Serge Patient was born in Cayenne and educated in mainland France, becoming involved with Guyanese militancy in college. The main themes of his texts are autonomy, slavery, the search for a Guyanese identity, maroons, and independence.
Other Books: Le mal du pays (1967), Guyane pour tout dire (1980), Créole. Langue, culture et identité (1986)
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