In this literary season, the writer Dominique Barbéris returns with an elegant novel which subtly paints the portrait of a secret, melancholic woman who leaves her native Brittany with her husband for Cameroon in the 1950s for the excitement of Douala in the eve of independence.
“ Three times nothing is already something », the French comedian Raymond Devos used to say. Dominique Barbéris’ novel is a novel of three times nothing. It is in fact with very small touches, almost on tiptoe, that Dominique Barbéris paints for us the portrait of a woman from the 1950s.
A discreet, reserved, silent woman, from a modest background, transplanted from her peaceful native Brittany to the warmth of Douala, in Cameroon whose upheavals of the time are preparing the accession to independence. A woman who will live next to nothing, but who will live “ something “, A ” almost nothing » which says a lot, but without really saying it.
A way of loving, of Dominique Barbéris, is published by Editions Gallimard.
Rebroadcast of the show from Thursday August 29, 2023.