Photo by Nadine Shaabana on Unsplash
By Miles De Rosa, Staff Writer
Celebrated French filmmaker and writer Fabienne Kanor visited Susquehanna on April 5 for a reading and discussion of her award-winning novel, “Humus,” in the latest installment in the Seavey Reading Series. Originally published in French in 2006, “Humus” was recently translated into English by Susquehanna French professor Lynn Palermo.
“Humus” is based on a report written by the captain of a slave ship in 1774 after 14 women jumped overboard in an effort to free themselves from enslavement. It is stated in the report that half of them drowned or were eaten by sharks, and the other half survived. The novel follows the testimony of each of these women as they intertwine to create a narrative that reflects on enslavements’ dehumanizing effect on both the victim and oppressor.
Kanor and Palermo took turns reading selected passages from the novel, Kanor reading in French and Palermo in English. At times, Kanor would read with Palermo in the original French, imbuing the reading with an incredible amount of emotion.
Kanor’s personal history played a great deal in the writing of this novel, particularly the “cultural amnesia” that her parents brought with them as they were working to assimilate to French culture. Her parents, she said, avoided the topic of enslavement and it was not something she came to fully understand herself until she was older. Writing this book was in many ways about her finding an empathetic, personal path to this history.
Kanor also touched on her desire to “give the forgotten a life,” in her work. She acknowledged the obvious roadblocks—that no one knows what it was like to be one of those women except for those women—but also admitted to feeling at times possessed by their spirits, saying that their stories seemed to just come to her.
Palermo, who was asked why she felt such an urge to translate this work, spoke of a similar sense of “cultural amnesia.” She felt it was important that this book be read specifically in America due to the country’s whitewashing of the history of enslavement.
“Humus” was the recipient of two honors upon its publication in 2006. It received a special mention by the jury of the Prix Carbet de la Caraïbe et du Tout-Monde, an award given to the best work published in French or Creole from the Caribbean. It also won the Prix RFO du Livre, a literary award given to the best work published in French in any given year.
As well as being an award-winning novelist and filmmaker, Kanor is a professor at Pennsylvania State University, where she teaches French and Francophone Literature and Cinema. Her best-known film to date is the short film La Noiraude, which came out in 2005.
