Le Noir marron et autres textes, by Victor Charlier, was published last year by Cicéron Éditions, in the Mémoire des Mascareignes collection, which publishes unpublished or forgotten texts. providing historical and literary light on this region of the Indian Ocean… Dominique Bellier
Les Marrons is considered the first novel of Reunion literature, and even of marronnage, since it was published in 1844… While Timagène Houat’s text develops the idea of a mixed-race society open to others, Victor Charlier’s short story, “Le Noir marron “, steals the show in terms of anteriority, as the first fiction of Reunion marronnage, since it was published in 1831 in La Revue de Paris. It tells the story of Bambara Tarquin, who takes revenge for the suicide of his beloved by poisoning his master. He escaped the death penalty, becoming one of the country’s most powerful and respected maroons.
Franco-Mauritian author Victor Charlier was born in September 1803, in Port-Nord-Ouest, as Port-Louis was then known. He spent much of his childhood and adolescence in Mauritius, then probably in La Réunion, before settling in Paris. In a text, he recounts his arrival in Bourbon by ship in 1823, which he may have experienced himself.
Le retour du jeune créole” (The Return of the Young Creole) recounts the drama of L’Artimon, a slave in Mauritius who competes with his young master for the favors of his friend Fanny… “Une mulâtresse” (A Mulattress) presents a courageous mother up against prejudice. Une mulâtresse” (A mulattress) portrays a courageous mother struggling with color prejudice, while “Les Blancs” (The whites) offers an ethnographic reflection. These texts describe colonial society realistically, denouncing its racism and inhumanity. They are accompanied by a reading note and a biography of the author, who was close to Georges Sand.