“I wanted to write a hymn to the courage to be yourself.“. Author of around thirty novels, translated into 58 languages in 62 countries, Yasmina Khadra is one of the most widely read French writers in the world. Entitled Almond hearthis latest opus gives voice to a certain Nestor Landiras, a big-hearted dwarf whom we follow from Montmartre to La Roque-d’Anthéron via Aix where the author lived for eight years. Meeting with a poet of feelings adored by his readers.
How did the idea for this book come about?
Above all, for the need to please myself. I wanted to write a novel that would make us feel good and allow my readers to look at the world differently. To relearn, by following the destiny of my antihero, to consider things with kindness and understand that the strength of things lies in its specificity.
Why a dwarf character?
He is a character who has always fascinated me. Dwarves are unique beings who are, for me, the most valiant of humanity. As soon as a dwarf leaves his home, he becomes a caricature, and must fight this state of affairs with a moral strength that so-called “ordinary” men do not necessarily know.
At her side, there is a courageous grandmother and your novel evokes through her portrait illness, death…
Yes, absolutely. Illness, death, is what awaits us all and I insist on the need to face it with serenity. In our country in Algeria, grandparents never die alone but always surrounded by the attention of their loved ones. As a result, my novel aims to meet three requirements: to educate, to entertain, and to heal. These are my three writing vocations.
Paris, Montmartre side, Aix, La Roque-d’Anthéron, the three places we pass through in your novel seem to mean a lot to you?
Yes indeed. Montmartre is an oasis full of vitality that I love deeply. I spent eight years in Aix and they were the best years of my life. I found in this city and in the entire region reasons not to give up. I also discovered La Roque-d’Anthéron and this place fascinates me. In this novel I wanted to pay homage to these three places…
Your writing is very dreamlike, especially in the arrangement of the dialogues.
Yes, I take the reader by the hand and say to him:do you want to stay with me” hence the importance of dialogues reworked by the power of dreaminess. I am a man of the desert and therefore I feel like a poet with an Arab-Berber sensitivity. Thus women hold a large place in my stories. An essential place!
Are all your books also hymns to transmission?
Yes, because the true vocation for a writer is to be useful to others. Transmission is both human and literary for me. My readers often tell me: “MMr. Khadra, in your books you often lead us to hell, but instead of burning us you enlighten us.“. This resonates with me.
“Almond Heart” by Yasmina Khadra, Éditions Miallet/Barrault. 313 pages, 21 €
