During the literary season of 2020, Jean-Pierre Martin had come close to the Goncourt prize with My Fools, way, in his words, of a “psychotic herbarium”. Here he is already back on the literary scene with The world of Martins.
A work which evokes the life of about fifty characters carrying the same surname as him. In the first pages, the author has the courtesy to inform the reader about those, 731 all the same, which will follow. “All my Martins will have been the occasion for a journey through space and time, from the 4th century to the present day, from India to Australia, from Alençon to America, from Chile to Vienna, from Wallonia to New France, from the Levant to Saskatchewan, from Prague to Stockholm, from Mimizan to Siberia… Everyone, in their own way, is an adventurer: hero or bastard, sage or madman, artist or explorer, missionary or activist , defector or sedentary, seeker of the absolute or daredevil, angel or scoundrel.”
Over the course of the book’s forty-one “Stories of Martin”, we learn of the singular destiny of a Martin specimen, examined with empathy.
Outstanding storytelling talent
The “Martinian” epic was conceived with the help of historical works, old testimonies or family notebooks. In this collective biography, we find Martins of all religious persuasions, or none, on all continents, whites, mestizos, blacks.
From the opening of the ball with the founding Saint Martinus, born in the 4th century, to Trayvon Martin, a young black man assassinated in 2012 by a racist vigilante, who gave birth to the movement Black Lives Matter. Passing by Jacques-François Martin who became famous during the Napoleonic wars, Pedro Martins who was a bishop in Japan or José de San Martín, a kind of unknown alter ego of Simón Bolívar.
One can only be touched by all these Martins. Because the writer Martin who exhumes them from oblivion has an unparalleled talent as a storyteller. And a style that is both mischievous and steeped in humanity.
The world of Martins – Jean-Pierre Martin, Olivier editions, 734 p., €25.90.
At the Bron Book Festival – Meeting, reading, screening with Jean-Pierre Martin at the Jean-Prévost media library, March 9 at 8 p.m.
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