roman

Après que Paul Bannerman, un écologiste, a été diagnostiqué avec un cancer de la thyroïde et a subi une opération, il est resté radioactif. En conséquence de sa radioactivité, Bannerman est confié aux soins de ses parents afin d'éviter d'affecter quiconque d'autre. Pendant qu'il est isolé, il devient mécontent de sa femme, qui est une cadre en marketing, car il la voit comme manquant de convictions et soutenant ceux qu'il oppose en tant qu'écologiste, quelqu’un qui lutte notamment contre les actions de la centrale nucléaire de Koeberg, en Afrique du Sud, mais aussi contre des projets miniers aux dunes de Pondoland et pour la préservation du delta de l’Okavango au Botswana. L'énergie nucléaire fournit ainsi un point de réflexion, souvent métaphorique, qui fait relier des histoires de vie privées à une idée d’avenir commun sud-africain.


« Still – as now – unsteady, upright from supine, the way to the house seems slowly gained. The ringing gives up; and starts once more, an encouragement.

– So you laz-zy, how's it? Chief, haai! We never hear from you! So much happening. I'm back onto the pebble-bed scene, now, it's dynamite, my man, I can tell you. But what are the doctors doing, keeping you locked away like this, do you feel okay? When're you coming back? Aren't you due for remittance of sentence by now… So… good, that's great. Sharp – sharp! Say, you hear the latest – the Institution of Nuclear Engineers says the new reactor at Koeberg gonna be 'walk away safe'. 'Walk away safe.’ I thought you'd like to take that walk, Bra. But if the Minister gives Government go-ahead, we'll have him in court against this 'favourable environmental impact assessment evaluation' his boys have come up with. Man, I've got plenty to tell you, what's going on, we're getting more support groups joining protest every day. Big names. Amazing. I promise you. The man's gonna find the nuclear a hot seat… so when can I come to your place, I don't know where you are –

– Not a good idea for you, I want to see you, Bra, but we can't sit in the same room, we'd be in the garden like a couple of kids sent out of the way. And even then, who knows. Why should you risk anything at all, I'm my own experimental pebble-bed nuclear reactor.

– Laughter bursting into the receiver. – Sharp! Sharp! But nonsense, non-sense. What about the weekend. I'll be back in town. What's the address? I'll turn up in the afternoon and bring you some stuff to work over. We need you. –

When he arrives he has to be backed away from as he throws out his arms for the African shoulder-hug that's come out of the expression of freedom fought for together among black men and has done away with the inhibition of whites that God-fearing heterosexual males don't embrace. (Thapelo at seventeen was in a Mkhonto we Sizwe cadre, another kind of combat in the bush.)

How can you manage what you are, to others. »

(Nadine Gordimer, Get a Life, 2005, édition Kindle)

Contributeur: Luciano Brito