The sun sets
The weapons Wake up
Tonight again we distroy
Tonight again we kill
The morning
It is raining
It is raining on the city and its ruins
It is raining on the bodies and their wounds
Syngué Sabour – Atik Rahimi
Description :
In Persian folklore, Syngue Sabour is the name of a magical black stone, a patience stone, which absorbs the plight of those who confide in it. It is believed that the day it explodes, after having received too much hardship and pain, will be the day of the Apocalypse. But here, the Syngue Sabour is not a stone but rather a man lying brain-dead with a bullet lodged in his neck. His wife is with him, sitting by his side. But she resents him for having sacrificed her to the war, for never being able to resist the call to arms, for wanting to be a hero, and in the end, after all was said and done, for being incapacitated in a small skirmish. Yet she cares, and she speaks to him. She even talks to him more and more, opening up her deepest desires, pains, and secrets. While in the streets rival factions clash and soldiers are looting and killing around her, she speaks of her life, never knowing if her husband really hears. And it is an extraordinary confession, without restraint, about sex and love and her anger against a man who never understood her, who mistreated her, who never showed her any respect or kindness. Her admission releases the weight of oppression of marital, social, and religious norms, and she leads her story up to the great secret that is unthinkable in a country such as Afghanistan.
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Résumé :
A Kaboul en Afghanistan, pays en guerre, une femme veille sur le corps de son mari, blessé d’une balle dans la nuque par l’un des hommes de sa milice, et plongé depuis trois semaines dans un coma profond. Cet homme, aux yeux grand ouverts et au souffle régulier comme les prières inlassables de son épouse qui le maintient en vie par perfusion d’eau sucrée-salée, est un combattant de toutes les luttes qu’a traversées son pays. Homme d’armes et de guerre, il fut un mari absent, violent, marié en son absence à cette jeune femme dont il a eu deux filles. La femme entame un long monologue avec son mari, faisant de lui selon la culture perse sa syngué sabour, sa pierre de patience, présente pour recueillir les confessions du monde et les absorber jusqu’à son implosion finale. Elle lui dévoile tous ses secrets d’enfance, de jeune fiancée mariée par son père, et d’épouse qui malgré la peur et la violence de son époux a appris à l’aimer. Les confessions se succèdent, et la femme se délivre au milieu de la guerre qui l’entoure et la touche au plus intime, espérant par là même faire sortir l’homme de son coma que rien ne semble perturber. Après une ultime révélation ou peut-être dans un songe, la syngué sabour, comme le prétendait la tradition, éclate.
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