Le terroriste noir by Tierno Monénembo

140 World Literature Today reviews objects that sustain soul and body, namely books, food, and memories. The adults around him recite poetry , speak German, Yiddish, Russian, Polish, English, and French. They represent the encounter between the Orthodox Galician Jewish world and the sophisticated, assimilated world of Austrian Jews whom the Holocaust trapped in the East. In 1945, communist Poland is a world in “ruins, rags, and lies.” We get a crash course in current events, from the Kielce pogroms to Lysenko, from Chapaev to Stalin’s seventieth birthday , from drunk party officials to the building of the Palace of Culture. We get a rare glimpse into the network of surviving Jewish Polish families and into the dilemmas of being Jewish in postwar Poland. We see the old, sincere ideologue, Pan Rosenthal, and the young rising communist leader spar about politics. Then, one by one, surviving brothers, sisters, friends, and cousins come back and then leave for Munich, Tel Aviv, New York. A family imprisoned and broken apart by war comes back to life as Dichter comes of age. Alice-Catherine Carls University of Tennessee at Martin Tierno Monénembo. Le terroriste noir. Seuil. Paris. 2012. isbn 9782020986694 Tierno Monénembo has traveled widely since he left Guinea in 1969 to escape Sékou Touré’s dictatorship. His novels often reflect his own experiences or are based on the history of the Fulani people. Le terroriste noir retells a true story, of Addi Bâ, a young Guinean, who had been brought to France to work before the war. In 1940 he became a member of the tirailleurs sénégalais (Senegalese sharpshooters), the native African infantrymen who fought in Europe and African during the war. Escaping from German forces, he arrives in a poor state of health at a village in the Vosges, where he is soon accepted by many villagers . He works with a Resistance movement led by Marcel Arburger, who organized young men from the Vosges to fight instead of accepting the Nazi order to go to Germany as “guest workers.” Both Arburger and Bâ were captured, tortured, and executed in December 1943. Monénembo’s novel is only partly Addi Bâ’s story. He is always seen through the eyes of Germaine Tergoresse , an elderly woman who knew him when she was a teenager and who often uses some dialect from the Vosges. Her perspective is that of a young girl, who, we learn toward the end of her story, was secretly in love with Bâ. She describes her village during the war, when anger at the David Day Nevermore: A Book of Hours: Meditations on Extinction Fourfront Editions A compilation of poetry, Audubon-like illustrations, and historical accounts create this poignant look into the world of forgotten animals. Providing commentary on a variety of extinct creatures, Nevermore is organized as a twenty-four-hour vigil. Day is best known for his books on Tolkien mythology. Jerry Craven Tiger, Tiger and Other Stories Mongrel Empire Press Jerry Craven populates his stories with a variety of believable and appealing characters, measuring the mix of humor and seriousness in balanced proportions. The tales range internationally in setting, from Malaysia to Afghanistan to Texas. Mongrel Empire has added another gem to its growing list of publications. march –april 2013 • 141 Nota Bene Occupation led to little but frustration and a feeling of impotence. “One could betray his brother, give up a friend to be deported to Germany, for a ration ticket or a kilo of potatoes .” Bâ was “this unknown man from the African forest who came to fight when the Whites had thrown down their arms and made peace with the enemy.” Germaine knows little about Bâ’s past and can describe his many amorous adventures in the region only indirectly. She knows that he will not eat pork or drink alcohol during village festivities, and that he always rinses his mouth after eating. She also knows that rivalries within families may have been one cause of his betrayal to the Germans. One incident stands out. Bâ tells Germaine to take a certain route on her way to the railway station to return to Paris, where she is a student

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