David Diop – författare

Om natten är allt blod svart utgår från erfarenheten hos en senegalesisk soldat som stred för kolonialmakten Frankrike under Första världskriget. Boken belönades med International Booker Prize 2021, och har fått flera andra prestigefyllda priser. David Diop (f. 1966) är en fransk författare och akademiker. Han specialiserar sig på fransk och frankofon litteratur från 1700-talet, bland annat hur Afrika framställdes i reseskildringar från den tiden. Hans första bok 1889, l’Attraction universelle kom 2012. Romanen handlar om elva personer som var del av den senegalesiska delegationen på Världsutställningen i Paris. Om natten är allt blod svart är Diops internationella genombrott.

”Om natten är allt blod svart går rakt in på min lista över årets bästa böcker", skriver Martin Engberg i GP. "Första världskriget framhålls ofta som det skeende som tog död på det sista av krigets romantiska skimmer. En avförtrollning som litteraturen gjort sitt för att bidra till, men David Diops roman gör det genant tydligt hur ensidigt västerländskt perspektivet fortfarande är på detta globala krig, med tanke på de miljoner icke-vita, icke-europeiska soldater som stred i europeiska arméer. . . .// Om natten är allt blod svart” är en tät, monologisk roman, fylld av en mardrömslik stämning som inte släpper taget om läsarens hjärta. https://www.gp.se/kultur/recension-om-natten-är-allt-blod-svart-av-david-diop-1.89313907

Från BTJ:

"En rik berättelse med stark närvaro och fin människokännedom. Skildringarna från såväl krigets hemskheter som bylivet med dess komplikationer är

levande och man berörs av ödena. Marianne Tufvesson har gjort en mycket fin översättning från franskan."

Helhetsbetyg: 5.

WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2021

A GUARDIAN and THE TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR

'This slight book is an extraordinarily powerful exploration of what happens to the souls of men sent to kill and be killed' -- The Times, Historical Fiction Books of the Year

'Extraordinary... full of sadness, rage and beauty' Sarah Waters

Alfa and Mademba are two of the many Senegalese soldiers fighting in the Great War. Together they climb dutifully out of their trenches to attack France's German enemies whenever the whistle blows, until Mademba is wounded, and dies in a shell hole with his belly torn open.

Without his more-than-brother, Alfa is alone and lost amidst the savagery of the conflict. He devotes himself to the war, to violence and death, but soon begins to frighten even his own comrades in arms. How far will Alfa go to make amends to his dead friend?

At Night All Blood is Black is a hypnotic, heartbreaking rendering of a mind hurtling towards madness.

FINALIST FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR TRANSLATED FICTION

'A love story, an adventure tale, and an unflinching examination of the unexpected ways that colonialism and greed ravaged everyone it touched, European and African' MAAZA MENGISTE, Booker Prize-shortlisted author of The Shadow King'Diop has opened a new way of thinking about the eighteenth century and its hideous cruelties' ABDULRAZAK GURNAH, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature'A compelling romantic adventure... Through an act of remembrance, Diop seeks to build a repository of lives and histories lost to the slave trade' FINANCIAL TIMES'Diop explores the cruelties of colonialism in a powerful story of love destroyed' SUNDAY TIMES, Historical Fiction Pick of the Month

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The captivating new novel from David Diop, winner of the International Booker Prize

Paris, 1806. Michel Adanson is dying. The last word to escape his lips is a woman's name: Maram. Who was she? Why, in the course of his long life, has he never spoken of her before?

As Adanson's daughter sorts through his things, she discovers a notebook. It reveals a secret history both fantastical and terrible, of his time as a young botanist travelling in Senegal. How Adanson first heard of the 'revenant': a young woman of noble birth, abducted and sold into slavery across the seas, who then did the impossible-she came back, to live in hiding. How he became obsessed with finding her, embarking on an odyssey that would lead to danger and destruction. How a man who longed to solve the mysteries of nature instead found himself faced with the uncontrollable impulses of the human heart.

Tragic and tender, alive with feeling, this is a story of adventure, revenge and impossible desires, one which subverts our every expectation about who we are and who we love.

'A gripping, galloping narrative that challenges perceptions to the very last page', Marie Claire

'David Diop has opened up a new way of thinking about the eighteenth century and its hideous cruelties', Abdulrazak Gurnah, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

'It's hard to imagine a more gripping or fertile subject', Guardian

Prais, 1806. The renowned botanist Michel Adanson is dying. His last word is a woman's name: Maram. But who was she?

Searching for the answer, Adanson's daughter discovers a journal of his youthful travels in Senegal, which tells a story of wild adventure and impossible desires. It reveals how he heard of a young woman sold into slavery who did the impossible and returned. How he became obsessed with finding her, whatever the cost. And how a man who longed to solve the mysteries of natural instead found himself grappling with the impulses of the heart.