Florent Couao-Zotti

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Florent Couao-Zotti (2011)

Florent Couao-Zotti (born June 18, 1964 in Pobé , in the south-east of Benin ) is a Beninese writer, author of novels, short stories, plays and comics. He lives and works in Cotonou .

biography

When Florent Couao-Zotti was born, his mother worked as a midwife in the hospital in Pobé and his father as a civil servant at the organization commune Bénin-Niger (OCBN), a railway company.

In 1973 his mother died of cancer in the hospital in Porto-Novo . Florent Couao-Zotti lived in Parakou with his older sister for two years and then joined his father in the family home in Cotonou . There he found ten siblings. Two of his brothers, who shot the literary series Edgard and Ludovic with a friend from the neighborhood, talked a lot about the great French, English and American authors. Also detective novels, including the SAS Saga by Gérard de Villiers , which at the time was a preferred reading for many young people and dominated their discussions. But they are supported by Gilles, the father, a former school teacher who also loves literature. Retired fifteen years ago, he is sitting in a chair in front of the house. He closely follows their debates and often intervenes by adding his mustard or by challenging them about the knowledge of French authors. In his eyes, the use of foreign words testifies to his love for this language, which he uses to speak emphatically.

Florent Couao-Zotti studies modern literature at the University of Abomey-Calavi (also known as the National University of Benin until 2001, based in Abomey-Calavi, near Cotonou) and trained in journalism and cultural entrepreneurship.

In October 1989 he moved to Ivory Coast, invited by a friend to teach French at a college in Agnibilékrou (border town to central Ghana). He arrives at the Ivorian-Ghanaian border, but a customs officer discovers that he has a stack of books in his suitcase and that there are some sheets of paper in a pocket in his backpack that have been blackened by his writing. You ask him if he's the author. He said yes, but the other person asked him to recite a poem before letting him go. At the end of the exercise, Florent Couao-Zotti is able to cross the border and settle in Ivory Coast, but his experience there is short-lived. The young man goes to Benin, where the Sovereign National Conference of February 1990 (a peaceful revolution 'from below' aimed at overthrowing the Kérékou regime ) is looming.

After this national conference, at which freedom of the press was restored and the "democratic renewal" proclaimed, Florent Couao-Zotti took over the positions of editor of two satirical newspapers ( Le Canard du Golfe and Abito ), and cultural columnist for Tam-Tam Express (independent weekly newspaper which appeared in Cotonou between 1988 and 1995), the Forum de la Semaine (published weekly in Cotonou between 1990 and 1996), and the Benin Nouveau (published bi-weekly between 1991 and 1993). Since 2002 he has published in several newspapers, including the independent daily La Nouvelle Tribune .

Literary oeuvre

This section needs to be revised. Details should be given on the talk page. Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

Florent Couao-Zotti's literary career began in 1995. He published Ce Soleil où j'ai toujours soif ("This sun, where I am always thirsty"; L'Harmattan, 1995), a drama in which he questions about the ongoing democratization of Black Africa poses. In the streets of a city an unemployed graduate, Sèna, a 'surface technician' (street sweeper) dreams of only one thing: to dance to the national conference ball with his fiancée, a young woman who is as for sale as inaccessible Promises of democracy and freedom that fertilized the whole continent to celebrate.

In 1996 he won the first prize for African children's literature with Un enfant dans la guerre ("A child at war", Ed. Haho, 1998) at the Agence de la Francophonie competition . This novel is later published under the title Charly im Krieg by Ed. Dapper picked up in 2001.

But more than these two publications, another text draws the attention of critics and readers: Notre pain de chaque nuit ("Our bread every night", Le Serpent à Plumes, 1998). Caroline Morel of the Lire au lycée professionnel magazine says: "'Our bread every night' is a breathtaking and colorful tragedy about Nono, the prostitute without illusion from the slums of Cotonou, Benin. She beguiles men, like the most corrupt MPs, like her former pimp who has turned into a talented boxer, Djendjer. The murder Nono commits in a desperate attempt at self-defense is reflected in the final chapters where nothing survives the ups and downs of the adventures of this story Throughout the book, these two young fellow destinies, born and distinguished by the rubbish heap in which they were born, get lost in a series of dead ends, scarcely knowing that they are being trapped by more powerful than them, like MP Kpapka, the sinister Machiavellian fellows, macho, cowardly and greedy, this modern fury literally devours a All he can, but neither Nono nor Djenjer give in: they have nothing to lose and live on less than nothing until they are exhausted. Certain scenes are unforgettably violent, like that of the vengeance of the MP's wife, who, with other matrons, snatches Nono before demanding compensation from the ancestors. The world of the night is used as decor, the children are ragged, the magicians and their grigris accompany these people with more or less conviction. What inspires this lifelike poetry is a particularly juicy language with local expressions that is quite brutal. The author brews his succinct sentences with skill, divides his text into many infinitive clauses, into short paragraphs, and thus leads the reader out of breath from one chapter to the next. We sweat with the heroes, we feel their tension through the various points of view that are taken one after the other. We must also mention Florent Couao-Zotti's incredible metaphors who literally structure the text and fill the characters' statements with surprising poetry. So many dazzling pictures without concessions to a dirty life, where pleasure and gentleness cannot be separated from violence or angry despair. ".

Florent Couao-Zotti's publications are linked. In 2000 the Beninese author published an anthology with breathtaking and brilliant texts, which once again confirmed the entire allegorical, poetic register in which his publications were written. L'homme dit fou et la mauvaise foi des hommes ("The allegedly mad man and the malice of men"; Le Serpent à plumes, 2000). "This collection of short stories, which takes its title from one of the stories in the collection, is once again immersed in the disreputable neighborhoods of the Benin capital. Inaudibly or visibly, violence dominates this collection and seems to be present on every page. It reaches its climax as a small child steals a jewelry pendant, swallows it to hide it, and no longer manages to spit it out ... When Cesaria gives birth to a child she wants to get rid of and her uncle comes to tell her that he doesn't Other than the "masked rapist" and thus the father of this child ... When a man in the morgue rapes the body of his wife, whom he involuntarily killed while trying to murder his brother-in-law. The characters of Florent Couao- Zotti willingly play and play with the supernatural, thus proving the hero of this short story, who, after killing his wife, turns out to be his Kidnapped daughter and provoked the bank's chairman as invulnerable to police bullets (an obvious reference to the character of Martial in La vie et demie , Congolese novel Sony Labou Tansi). Like the world he describes, Florent Couao-Zotti chooses an inventive language, mixed with a down-to-earth attitude, enriched with hearty formulations and a vocabulary that was borrowed from the street glossary. It is the same with prostitutes who are successively characterized as "sellers of life", "suitcases of sin", "fantasy openers" or "hairy benches" ... Prostitution, drugs, murder, sodomy, Florent Couao-Zotti feels all fevers, everyone Pain, all cramps, all impulses and all excesses in their most abrupt and wildest manifestations. From dissatisfaction to dejection, his characters are people who yearn for their childhood or children who are too soon given over to a fate for adults, like these "children of the gutter forgotten in the world's garbage dumps". Whether they are drowning in madness, trumpeting the truth out of their delirium and holding up a disturbing mirror to society, or whether they defy the laws of human nature, the heroes of the Beninese writer offer up all the fragility of their abundance and take refuge in excess because they haven't found the place they wanted to reach in everyday life ".

Of all of the author's works, one has a very special resonance: Les Fantômes du Brésil ("Die Geister Brasiliens"; Ubu editions, 2006). This story, a novel of introspection returning to its Afro-Brazilian origins, highlights the conflicts that have long shaped the relationships between the children of former slaves returned from Brazil (to Benin) and the descendants of slave traders. The writer impersonates a loving passion between two young people from two communities, Anna Maria Dolorès do Mato and Pierre Kpossou Dossou. Ouidah , stage of the novel, then leads the reader into the heart of this “Agouda” culture, where the shadow of Brazil hovers like a ghost above everything. The lovers defy the hostility of both camps and, after being carried into the depths of the sea, find themselves in a strange place that resembles an island, unless it is the afterlife.

In 2018, Ed. Gallimard Western Tchoukoutou , a jubilant novel on the subject of revenge after death. This is where the Wild West of Benin nests in the mountain town of Natingou, where we follow the adventures of a trio of villains - a sheriff - a corrupt sheriff, an unethical saloon manager and a cowherd (cowboy!), Grindy and thugs ... so that when a mysterious Kalamity Djane returns, she will be upset in many ways ... Kalamity Djane, who has returned from the dead on her big motorcycle, thirsts for revenge and will move heaven and earth to kill the three thugs! But who is this Kalamity that claims to be a vengeful spirit? In eighteen crazy rock'n'roll episodes, Florent Couao-Zotti takes the American myth (of the Wild West) to make it an atypical Beninese adventure, thus inventing a new breed of western (which gets its name from the local beer the city of Natingou): the Tchoukoutou!

With novels, collections of short stories and plays, the Beninese writer has succeeded in creating an original literary work that is nourished by the notion of a disappointed urban Africa, whose marginalized population remain the recurring characters. Since 2002, Florent Couao-Zotti has devoted himself exclusively to writing, which he presents in various literary genres (novels, short stories, plays) and in storytelling (comics, television series and video films).

From Florent Couao-Zotti's point of view, a writer is essentially a producer of emotions.

“ I love working on the language. I think this is where the writer's personality comes through. If a writer manages to generate a lot of emotion through the situations he describes while his writing is inventive, he is likely to gain the recognition of all literature. This is what I've been striving for since my first book. There is a deliberate process of seduction by words, by literary means ... The writer is in fact a producer of emotions communicated to him by his surroundings. "

- Excerpt from an interview with Florent Couao-Zotti

Florent Couao-Zotti's works have been translated into five languages ​​(Japanese, Italian, Catalan, German, English) and have received multiple awards (see below).

But Couao-Zotti is not only a man of letters, he also speaks out unmistakably, but with caution and reaching out to dialogue in current political crises in his country. For example, on the contentious question of the legitimacy of the last presidential election in Bemins 2019.

In a literary-political contribution Cotonou au temps du coronavirus in jeune afrique from April 28, 2020, he also refers to the current social upheavals caused by the Corona crisis in Benin, using the example of Cotonous.

Works

Honors

Florent Couao-Zotti's works have been translated into five languages ​​(Japanese, Italian, Catalan, German, English) and have received multiple awards, including:

  • Tchicaya U Tams'i Prize (1996)
  • Francophonie de littérature pour l'enfance (1996)
  • Prix ​​Ahmadou Kourouma, (2010),
  • Salon du livre d'Abbeville (2016),
  • Prix ​​Roland de Jouvenel de l'Académie française (2019).

literature

  • Sabine Rohmig: Florent Couao-Zotti - biography. In: same: literary culture transfer. Africanisms in Francophone Novels of Black Africa. ( Cultures - Communication - Contacts ; Volume 12). Frank & Timme, Berlin 2012, p. 157, ISBN 978-3-86596-459-5 .

Web links

Commons : Florent Couao-Zotti  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The text here and in the following is largely a translation of the entry on Florent Couao-Zotti on the French wikipedia page, which was probably edited by the author himself
  2. ↑ au lycée professionnel, n ° 45, page 42 (06/2004)
  3. ↑ Bernard Magnier: [1]
  4. ↑ Ranaivoson, Dominique & Florent Couao-Zotti (2008): L'écrivain est en fait, un producteur d'émotions. Africultures, 2008 / 3-4 (n ° 74-75), pages: 179 - 182
  5. ↑ Couao-Zotti, Florent (2019): Bénin - La main tendue de Talon à l'opposition: une main à prendre ou à couper? . Courriers des Afriques , May 2019
personal data
SURNAME Couao-Zotti, Florent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Beninese writer and journalist
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1964
PLACE OF BIRTH Pobé , Benin