First published in France, this family and Gothic mural, anchored in the humidity of the American South, is on its way to becoming the literary phenomenon of the summer.
Summer will be dark, humid and hot. On paper anyway, between the pages Black water, a literary saga on the way to becoming a real phenomenon. Six volumes of 260 pages where we follow the epic adventures of the Caskey family who own a sawmill in the small town of Perdido, Alabama. A city where the rich, the poor, the black and the white live around two rivers, the Blackwater and the Perdido, which meet in a maelstrom from which the bodies of the drowned never emerge. It was after a terrible flood that covered half the town in the early 20th century that Oscar Caskey, a young heir and his servant Bray, apparently discovered a young woman with red clay hair. flooded hotel room. She’s beautiful, she’s mysterious, her name is Elinor, and she likes to take midnight baths in Perdido. His fate will forever be tied to the Caskey family, whose tragedies and secrets, alliances and low blows we follow over the course of several generations as the world transforms, rocked by World War II and almighty oil, the Great Depression and long-haired hippies; With a touch of horror and fantasy, in scenes that contribute to real chills.
Serial novel
Published in 1983 in the United States, Black water It is the work of the American Michael McDowell, an author and academic who develops a passion for his country in relation to death (his collection of artifacts, plaques from children’s coffins or other posthumous photographs are on display today at an Ohio university). . McDowell, a prolific writer and friend of Stephen King, also penned the screenplay beetle juice by Tim Burton (1988), with whom he co-wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993). If he spent most of his life in Massachusetts, until his death from AIDS in 1999, in his native Alabama, with its murky alligator-filled waters, its pecan trees and persistent superstitions, it is in his actions. Black water. With very precise instructions on publication. one volume per month, January-June 1983. A process that echoes the series of Balzac, Dumas or Eugene Sue, whose public looked forward to each episode and which inspired Michael McDowell, who took over the authorship. folk literature where pleasure should be paramount.
Almost 40 years later, it is intact. if the publishing house Monsieur Toussaint Louverture, which publishes for the first time; Black water In France has chosen to print each volume more closely, every 15 days in paperback format, the sense of scarcity is pleasant and (almost) unbearable. The six volumes published between April and June, which have already sold more than 120,000 copies, are now all available; so it’s possible to “enlarge” them in the same way that you can consume episodes of a series that keep you up all night (provided you find them; some bookstores are out of stock).
From the fans, we indulge ourselves in the imaginative casting game. Who will play Elinor, Oscar or Mary-Love, a matriarch as strong as the diamonds she hoards in her coffers? True romantic manna, Black water Interestingly, it was never adapted for the small or big screen. On Monsieur Toussaint Louverture’s website we can read that “the rights are being discussed for sale to a production company, but nothing has been done yet”. However, all the elements are there to imagine a series or “franchise” of films where one would be intoxicated by the thick perfume of the swamps.
A modern and profound tale
But beyond the obvious greed with which we turn the pages of each volume, Black water sounds with a very modern resonance. In the Kaski family, if the men appear to have the attributes of power in their costumes and prominent offices, it is the women who decide, decide, direct, and also manipulate from the rocking chairs of their home porches. And learn what strings (sometimes supernatural) to draw to influence fate, bend under the blow of vengeance, or shower with blessings. Homosexuality, agonizing motherhood, racism and social inequalities are also part of the plot, not to mention a complex reflection on money; written in the 80s Black water could almost produce a kind of dallas Bayou, where prosperity would spoil already parched souls, but satisfy the milder. Over the years, dollars have also poured in on (almost) all of Perdido’s residents, who sometimes forget, only for the rivers to rise again to wipe everything clean and start over. Of all riches, therefore, nature and water, both stormy and nourishing, remain the mistress of heroes. We allow ourselves to be carried away by its depth and the power of its waves.
Source: Le Figaro
