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iciHaiti - Literature : Big winner of the literary criticism contest 19/07/2023 09:50:29
Yahmila Devalon (25) born in Saint-Louis du Nord (September 10, 1997), won the first prize in the literary criticism competition with a text on the novel "L’odeur du café" by Dany Laferrière. Learn more about Yahmila Devalon: Yahmila Devalon, agricultural engineer, specializing in natural resources and the environment, was the national winner of the 2014 Mountain Youth Rally reportage competition, organized by the network of Haitian schools associated with UNESCO. She represented Haiti in Japan at the UNESCO World Conference on Sustainable Development in November 2014. She was also Coordinator of the Gastronomic and Craft Fair of Notre Dame College in Lourdes from 2014 to 2016 and also Vice-Coordinator of the Agro-Artisanal Fair of the Faculty of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine in 2017. Criticism of "L’odeur du café" by Dany Laferrière by Yahmila Devalon : "Published in 1991, Dany Laferrière wrote 'L’odeur du café' to pay homage to his maternal grandmother, Da, also in Petit-Goâve, his hometown, but also to praise coffee, the palm coffee. It is an autobiographical novel about the author's childhood. This is the story of a ten-year-old boy living with his grandmother in a small town in the province of Haiti. It's the summer of 1963, he has yellow fever and has to spend most of his days with Da. With all the spontaneity that comes with this part of life, always on the lookout for knowledge, he asks all kinds of questions that Da always strives to answer. - Why are we dying Da? - Why are we sleeping? - In order to relax ? - SO? - So what, Da? - Death is eternal sleep. - What is after death, Da? - Only ants know anything about it. - Why don't they tell us anything? - Because they're not interested in death, Old Bone. - And why are we interested in death? - That's the secret of life. What do our grandmothers represent in our lives? Wisdom, love, a lot of benevolence. The 'L’odeur du café' is an ode to our grandmothers. What would Old Bones be without Da? The smell of coffee is also a tribute to all these childhood encounters that shape the adult that we will be. The author appeals a lot to the senses to construct his text. This makes it easy to integrate his universe but also to highlight the child's soul of the narrator. The colors are very present to give life to this table of memories. There is the color yellow which comes up very often, the yellow liquid, Vava's yellow dress, the yellow fever from which the young boy suffers, the yellow ribbon of the coffee bags, the yellow the favorite color of Aunt Renée, the yellow jersey... A way for the author to recall the spontaneity, the energy, the dynamism and the enthusiasm from which this childish universe emanates. The novel is divided into very short sub-chapters, like pieces of a puzzle that fit together. They are fragments of life 'Da's daughters, the breath of life, the little bucket, the button, the wall, the stick, the hay merchant...', Little moments of happiness put together 'the red bicycle, The queens, the meal, the first time, the newspaper, my heart...'. The smell of coffee is not only the childhood of old bones sitting on Da's gallery, it is the diary of all those who lived their childhood with their grandmother in the provinces. 'One day I asked Da to explain heaven to me. She showed me her coffee maker. It's the coffee from the palms that Da prefers, especially because of its smell. The smell of Palmes coffee.' What does coffee smell like? The smell of this cafe is steeped in memories of childhood, of Da's hospitality. There is beauty everywhere and especially in everything, only those who keep their child's soul, full of sensitivity will be able to be moved by it. Dany Laferrière, in the smell of coffee, takes us back to childhood to see the beauty of the world, to marvel at a colony of ants, at the Haitian landscape, drawing by a naive painter, at the sight of the turquoise Caribbean sea or to feel the light and sly wind like old bones, lifting the black dresses of peasant women. There is beauty everywhere and especially the beauty of people, the beauty of Haitians, in their courtesy, in their history, in their daily struggles, in their resilience, and especially in their smiles which never leave them despite the vagaries of life. The smell of coffee is the essence of Haitian culture explained with the words of a child using crystal clear language. The Haitian is a fascinating being with its customs, its beliefs, its mores, its rituals, its fears, the interpretation of its dreams. Da, Vieux os, Gros Simon, Zette, the notary Loné, Thérèse, the madwoman, Doctor Cayemitte, Mother of Dieusel, The Hay Merchant, Timise, The Devieux family... these are our neighbors, Haitians whom we meet on every street corner of the Haitian province. The smell of coffee is a read for all ages, for those living far from the country and who want to reconnect with their roots, to get away from the cold to enjoy the sun of this small village in Haiti, for those who want to discover Haitian culture, to take a trip back to their childhood, or for the simple desire to read a good book accompanied by a cup of coffee, perhaps, if they are lucky, the coffee of the palms." IH / iciHaïti
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