Writer Eric Chacour – about his debut novel and Francophonie in Bulgaria and Egypt

Canadian writer of Egyptian origin Eric Chacour is a quest of Radio Bulgaria during his visit to Sofia as one of the visiting speakers during the Month of Francophonie organized by the French Institute in Bulgaria. His award-winning debut novel Ce que je sais de toi, "What I Know About You" (2023), has been translated or is currently being translated into about fifteen languages, including English, German, Arabic, Romanian and Japanese.

"I hope with all my heart that it will also come to life in Bulgarian," says the writer, who has already had the opportunity to meet with Bulgarian publishers. The plot, built on absence, where times and cultures overlap, takes the reader to Cairo in the 1980s, vibrating with sounds and aromas. A young doctor is forced to follow his destiny, but the meeting with a man from whom everything seems to distance him turns his world upside down and leaves him no choice but exile.

Fate, or that which is written and predestined, plays an important role in the novel, structured largely as a story within a story.

"Yes, it's something very oriental – mektoub, the idea that everything is written somewhere in the sky", the writer says. "We can only play the score given to us, composed by God. It seems to me that sometimes it's almost like an alibi. By the way, in Egypt it's also a reason for jokes. If the elevator doesn't work, they say Bukra, Insh'Allah, i.e. "Tomorrow, God willing". Accordingly, God doesn't give and the elevator doesn't work again… In the book I play a lot with this idea of fate."

"What I Know About You" is also a text that abounds in sensory descriptions…

"None of the five senses allow us to enter literature," explains Eric Chacour. "I have fun trying to insert them, to insert music or sounds. The action takes place in Egypt, and in Cairo, horns are blaring, people are constantly talking loudly, the muezzin calls to prayer… I also put in a lot of smells. I describe a certain image of Egypt from the time of my parents, who grew up there. I have been there about 15 times, and I feel like the smells are the only thing that connects their Egypt and the one I see when I go there."

The novel is based on the story of the tragic love of two men - Tarek and Ali. Can we think of it as "an activist novel"?

"The simplest and most honest answer is "no". The book is not an activist book, but it talks about things that actually exist. Two men fall in love, as they can fall in love anywhere in the world. The interesting thing is that the action takes place in Egypt, and there is the oldest trace of a love story between two men - a mastaba (tombstone), where, as was done back then, they told their entire lives in hieroglyphs in bas-relief. I describe things that exist and I try to convey them as faithfully as possible. It is clear that this relationship is not allowed in the context in which the characters find themselves. The irony is that everything opposes my two characters Tarek and Ali - religion, age, family background. The only thing they have in common is that they are men in Egypt at the end of the 20th century, and paradoxically, it is this that condemns them much more than all their differences. I wanted the reader to feel this absurdity."

The novel "What I Know About You" describes the Levantine community. The Levantines are Syrians, Lebanese and Jordanians who live in Egypt, mainly Christians. They often speak French before learning Arabic. They attend French schools, study French history - "all about the Gallic ancestors and such clichés," smiles Eric Chacour. They communicate with each other, visit each other, meet, continue to cook their traditional dishes.

"I wanted to tell something about this Francophone community, which at that time was already disappearing, but it still exists", the writer states. "They fantasized about France. I was playing with this mixture of cultures, with this slightly archaic and at the same time romantic idea of French, still shared by many Francophones around the world. As a person from Quebec, i.e. from a small island of French on a continent where English is mainly spoken, it is very touching for me here in Sofia to speak to you in French. This brings us closer.."

Eric Chacour has already met his Bulgarian readers to some extent. Since the novel has not yet been translated into Bulgarian, they are mainly Francophones:

"I met a lot of young people. We had creative writing workshops. I was amazed by their imagination and ability to invent stories. I am really happy when I see how people with their own cultural references, inevitably different from mine, manage to recognize themselves in the story, to project themselves into it, to make their own associations. They tell me: "The Francophone community that you describe - in Bulgaria we have the same to some extent. We communicate with other Francophones. We have musical and cultural references that are probably not quite current in France and are no longer the same, but for us they have remained as a standard". This also speaks of the time of prestige of Francophonie in the country."

Eric Chacour during his meeting with Bulgarian readers at the French Institute in Sofia

You can listen to the full interview with Eric Chacour for Radio Bulgaria's Maria Stoeva in French HERE.

Photos: Maria Stoeva, Facebook/ Eric Chacour,French Institute in Bulgaria , editionsalto.com

English publication: Rositsa Petkova

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The Canadian author visited Bulgaria as part of the Month of Francophonie organized by the French Institute

Writer Eric Chacour – about his debut novel and Francophonie in Bulgaria and Egypt

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