05/08/2025
Patrick Chamoiseau é uma das vozes mais importantes da literatura caribenha. Profundamente influenciado pelas obras de Aimé Césaire e Édouard Glissant, o escritor martinicano reflete sobre a cultura de sua terra natal, a identidade crioula e suas complexidades linguísticas. Desde seu primeiro romance, 'Chronique des sept misères' (1986), o escritor está entre os autores de obras influentes, como o manifesto 'Elogio da Crioulidade' (1989) e os ensaios 'Lettres créoles' (1999), com Raphaël Confiant, e 'L’intraitable beauté du monde' (2009), com Édouard Glissant. Pelo romance 'Texaco' (1992), do qual extraímos a citação aqui compartilhada, Chamoiseau recebeu o Prêmio Goncourt do mesmo ano.
[𝗘𝗡𝗚𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗛] “Warm up your words before uttering them. Speak in your heart. To know how to speak is to know how to withhold the word. To speak truly is to polish silence” – Patrick Chamoiseau. He is one of the most important voices in Caribbean literature. Deeply influenced by the works of Aimé Césaire and Édouard Glissant, the Martinican writer reflects on the culture of his homeland, Creole identity, and its linguistic complexities. Since his first novel, ‘Chronique des sept misères’ (1986), he has been among the authors of influential works such as the manifesto ‘In Praise of Creoleness’ (1989) and the essays ‘Lettres créoles’ (1999), with Raphaël Confiant, and ‘L’intraitable beauté du monde’ (2009), with Édouard Glissant. For his novel ‘Texaco’ (1992), from which the quote shared here is taken, Chamoiseau received the Goncourt Prize that same year.
📕 Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco (Éditions Gallimard, 1992). Tradução para o inglês / Translation to English: Rose-Myriam Réjouis & Val Vinokurov (Vintage Books, 1998)
