Rue Darwin by Boualem Sansal

Abstract

seriousness of learning with his whining need to go to the bathroom. Those of us in education have dealt with our own “Tonios.” However, Resch, teacher of French, history, geography and civics, is able to communicate on the level of his students. He takes passages from classics such as Racine’s Andromaque or Rostand’s Cyrano and bends the alexandrines into modern-day rap such that the Tonios, Nadirs, and others can relate better. The author presents a typical anecdote of the classroom for each month and often uses a colloquial language. Resch not only intends to record what occurs in the classroom, but he genuinely wants to prepare his “kids” for the future: “Je me sens plus radio-réveil que prof” (31). During an incident involving disarming a student with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, he wishes the school would hire a “frappe-qu’un coup” (42), a person who strikes first and asks questions later! He writes with tongue-in-cheek humor, because which instructor among us has not prayed for the earth to open and swallow up the class clown or the recalcitrant provoker of incidents? Ironically the hired security guard does not last a week: “Toujours est-il qu’il s’est fait dévorer en une semaine. Taillé en pièces en quelques jours” (46). From discussions on the soccer teams PSG versus OM, to the revelation of a catastrophic afternoon in Porquerolles where Dominique’s class of boys destroys a Charlotte Gainsbourg film set while riding their bikes, the reader senses that the author is deeply connected to his class and transforms every activity into a learning adventure. Nevertheless, Dominique seems to disagree with technological progress: “Éteignons les ordinateurs. Les supports en papier me manquent. Tout comme la craie qui crie sur le tableau noir. Mon tableau blanc et mes feutres Velleda puent le sale progrès inutile. Beurk, beurk, beurk. Je n’ai pas envie d’envoyer des messages à mes élèves sur Facebook, j’ai envie de leur parler.” (69) As the year evolves, so do the anecdotes: the new teacher whose gaffe sets both students and staff laughing; the aromas of “soumassas” and “loukoums” offered by his students at the end of Ramadan, and one of the reasons that keeps Dominique at his job and not asking for a transfer; the class’s excursion to Antibes; the internship he visits where the electrical work done by the student enhances a porn show; the “mamamouchi” scene in a production of Molière’s Le bourgeois gentilhomme where the students question the mocking of the Muslim faith, and so much more. In choosing for his students the Pagnol trilogy (Marius, Fanny, César), Resch shows the intelligence and thoughtfulness of a great educator. If the reader wants to be inspired about teaching this “récit” is a must. When we teach, we often forget the classroom contains real bodies with individual problems, backgrounds , and points of view. We need to be there as advisor, friend, and listener. Resch shows his capacity to excel in all three categories. Santa Rosa Alliance Française (CA) Davida Brautman SANSAL, BOUALEM. Rue Darwin. Paris: Gallimard, 2011. ISBN 978-2-07-013460-1. Pp. 455. 17.50 a. Ce roman raconte l’histoire de Yazid, dit Yaz, un petit enfant qui ne connait pas son père, et qui a été élevé par une série de femmes, notamment sa grandm ère Djéda, dans une Algérie des années cinquante où les hommes sont des rois déchus. Djéda, alias mamie, est la chef d’une tribu, devenue maquerelle malgré 798 FRENCH REVIEW 86.4 elle. Elle habitait dans une belle maison à Bordj-Dakir, à 300 kilomètres de la capitale, où elle tenait “la grande maison”, un bordel notoire où les dignitaires locaux, Français et Arabes, allaient effeuiller les fleurs du mal. Dans cet univers de boxons, on respecte la loi du silence, du mensonge établi en axiome, des histoires fabriquées pour cacher les vérités amères. On ne parle pas beaucoup et surtout pas de certaines choses innommables: l’omerta règne sur l’honneur de la tribu! Yaz...