The Gospel According to the New World : Maryse Condé

Gospel is the first novel of Maryse Condé I have read ever. And I am blown out from this unequal world but come back to read her rest of the books. 

Bulgarian Gospodinov's Time Shelter sends the present times to the past whereas Guadeloupean Maryse's Gospel brings the past times to the present. 

Gondé has assembled the brief narrative of the world in this  new kind of novel, as daring and dearing as I have been searching for.

Richard Philcox's creative collaboration with Maryse Condé as translator and partner is one of the  finest literary pairs in the history of literature.

It will require a hack of time to write a complete review so I have just written my first impression on each chapter of the Gospel.

1. Less

The history of love marriage and the culture of their validation are all under the pitch-black doubt.

2. Diversity 

The history of homogeneities and the cultures of sapiens are all constructed and a mere evolution in essence.

3.Words

It's a word that forms our truths and realities.

4.Division

We claim a world free of binaries in every way but we haven't tragically evolved to go beyond the circle of binaries.

5. Conflict 

A new innovation doesn't always bring amity, it does also call enmity.

6. Bonding

When the shared lives with passionate bonding rift without a clue, we can't just be ourselves, what kind of relationship we are in doesn't matter.

7. Assimilation 

There is no perennial truth or constant lie, only the mixture of both.

8. Airy

Humans should not be fluid like water but flowing like air; as water is bound by solid fold to stream but air is always free to blow with every form.

9. Curiosity 

Human curiosity opens up the door to truth but an unchecked curiosity closes the door as well opens the windows.

10. Breaking 

Breaking the chain of our false beliefs ends us in  a ugly aggression, sometimes in beautiful consolation.

11. Restless 

Humans are restless until they form their identity, until they find their true selves in them.

12. Awareness 

The power structures of every possible human setting shouldn't be absolute but moderate to negotiations.

13. Revelation 

Pascal Maya Corazon, the unbounded trio makes the narrative a surprise at last.

14. Absurdity 

Do our tangled desires for love and passion make us a jackass and end us to live in ambiguity?

15. Balance

I have been thinking this thing over from last  whole week that if one fails to manage one's own life then how can one take the weight of another?

.....

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21. Disagreement 

We want to change the disorder and to set a better society, before that we need to exchange our disagreements with respect & tolerance to reach an agreement.

22. Assault 

Even the trained intelligence can't  succeed to filter the falsified narrative & the broken angel rises again to fall in lust and love.

23. Betrayal 

Trust is the thing that is only found in words and lust is the thing that is only found in act.

24. Mondongue

History not only repeats but also switches the poles.

25. Promises

The arrival of  Obama era to push down the racial scars is a failed adventure  & the departure of Trump era to push up the racial difference is a false promise.

26. Subaltern

The history of violence and death started with the classification of races, it has just heightened up by counter classification.

27. Unequal 

Though we born unequally but we all must die in equal length.

28. Reincarnation 

This chapter is like a handful of suspense only Hitchcock could have filmed in.

29. Refuge 

Where all the endangered species will take shelter; is it in art or in nature; or both.

30. Returning 

When you come back after a long absence; the beloved ones are always ready to welcome you.

 

31. Colorism

Even we choose our gods based on their colors and genders.

32. Independence 

The meaning of independence depends on the inter-depending relationships with amicable and anomalous lands far or near.

33. Multiculturalism 

The more the number in difference the more interactions will be turned complex.

34. Passport

The Marxist kid in Chaplin's film once proclaimed we are free until we bind to a passport; similarly Maria reproached that a rolling stone gathers no moss.

35. Metropolis 

The modernity of the city is reflected by its citizens' aesthetic sense of living.

36. Brotherhood 

The conversation of Pascal Pastor & Saul is about equality in brotherhood not about divisions by mastership.

37. Death

We have disclosed the secret of birht but how could we make sense of the mystery of death?

38. Inheritance 

Humans have inherited the evil of thinking over others' opinions and spoiling their inherent values.

39. Poet

Can a poet become a better governor than a trained politician?

40. Exile

The history of displacement is not just jammed with wars slavery , colonization labor but the lack of liberty also.

41. Charity 

The privileged are bound to make contributions to the betterment of the destitute.

42. Enemy

The greatest fight we have to do with our own selves, if we cannot be our own friend then do we need any enemies?

43. Grievances 

Our actions are  enough for our suffering but the chance adds an extra invisible hand to make the mischief worse.

44. Home

A place where your memories find their resort is a place you call home.

45. Soledad

Some people appear in our life not as they are destined to do but we can't help but call them in our hearts by chance.

46. Mecca

It's not the place, not the person but the people's perspectives that make holiness in hearts.

Epilogue : Alfa

I think therefore I am.

               -

 The Gospel According to the New World [2023]

L'Évangile du nouveau monde [2021]

Maryse Condé

Trans. by Richard Philcox

French,  Guadeloupe, France