Blue White Red

Оглавление

Alain Mabanckou. Blue White Red

BLUE. WHITE. RED

CONTENTS

TRANSLATOR’S INTRODUCTION

AFRICAN MIGRATION AND AFRICAN DANDYS

PART ONE. The Country

PART TWO. Paris

Отрывок из книги

GLOBAL AFRICAN VOICES Dominic Thomas, EDITOR

ALAIN MABANCKOU

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We had walked several hundred yards on foot. The engines and railway cars were far behind us. A vast expanse opened before us with a horizon of antiquated buildings. We hurried toward them. Crows punctured the fog, cavorting high in the sky, in search of the tallest ledge of those buildings, their wings clenched in the cold.

Four thugs pushed open the gate without batting an eye when we arrived. We crossed a large deserted courtyard marked by tracks of gigantic boots. This place had clearly been used before. I noticed a fenced soccer field on the other side, a few barbells, and just one basketball hoop. We headed straight for the tallest building and took the stairs that led to the basement. The two men dragged me down an interminable corridor. Our steps reverberated in rhythm, as if we had planned it. The silence gave the place the feeling of a decrepit penitentiary, abandoned if not outright haunted.

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