Absalon, Absalon !

After Les Palmiers sauvages, Séverine Chavrier returns to the words of William Faulkner with one of his most masterful novels. Inspired by a biblical episode, this text, closer to an ancient tragedy, unfolds a multitude of narratives.

Absalon, Absalon! is the tale of a white man who is sent away by a black slave when he rings his doorbell at the age of twelve: "Thou shalt go behind," which is a kind of supreme humiliation for the young man. So, in his thirst for absolute social recognition, he seeks revenge. Alone, he leaves everything, becomes a man and builds a house that would also be a dynasty.

This story is the story of a world that no longer exists, of this South that no longer exists. It's about Mississippi, planters, Jefferson, blacks and whites, the bloodlines and atavisms that go with them, the Civil War, defeat and bitterness, the tragedy of this almost mythological "South".