It is a legendary novel by Gustave Flaubert. After the scandal which surrounded the publication of Madame Bovarythe French writer felt the need to set sail, in time and space. With Salammbôpublished in 1862, he wrote a historical novel which takes place in Carthage and which is currently the subject of an exhibition at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. Visit.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem
“ There, we arrive in the Punic room of the Bardo Museum which we have chosen to host the Salammbô exhibition. » Stelae, sarcophagi, statues, masks, paintings distributed in around fifty rooms, with a guide in the person of Imed Ben Jerbania, archaeologist and curator of this exhibition.
“ Starting from Flaubert’s story, we will try to resurrect Carthaginian civilization and bring the public into this world of Carthage from the 3rd century BCexplains Imed Ben Jerbania. The world that Flaubert described through this episode which is specific to Carthage which is the episode of the mercenary war “.
“ This novel has also aroused a lot of interest among many archaeologists. »
The orientalist clichés which irrigate Flaubert’s work, such as the child murders which he describes in Salammbômake the exhibition curator gently laugh. But the liberties taken with reality, he does not hold it against it. “ This novel and Flaubert’s interest in Carthage also aroused a lot of interest among many archaeologists who were interested in the Phoenician and Punic period, in general. », continues Imed Ben Jerbania.
After the publication of Salammbômore excavations began in Carthage. Today, with this exhibition-event which combines pieces from Tunisian and French collections, the Bardo hopes to arouse the interest of both Tunisian and foreign visitors.
Also listenLiterature without borders – In the footsteps of Gustave Flaubert, two hundred years after his birth
This exhibition, which can be visited until January 12, 2025, is the result of a Tunisian-French collaboration. Before Tunis, it was presented in Rouen, the city where Flaubert is from, then at the MUCEM museum in Marseille. Before it, it was the exhibition “What Palestine brings to the world” from the Institute of the Arab World in Paris which had also been relocated to Tunis.
Me, very personally, if I am here today in this position, in this place, it is also because I am convinced that through cultural projects, we can bring a certain understanding of the other , of a story that we also share. “Salammbô” is a bit like this story between the two shores of the Mediterranean. This French, Norman author, who comes to Carthage, who first researches a lot and then comes to Carthage and says to himself: “I have to start my novel again, everything I have written until now no longer corresponds to anything.” It’s this bond, this common history. Even if this novel is transposed into an ancient period, ultimately, what Flaubert describes are human passions, questions of power, and that too can refer to current events.
For Fanny Rolland, cultural attaché at the French Institute of Tunisia, exhibitions must travel, especially in these times of tension in the region.