Abbé Faria
Cette pièce de l’auteur dramatique indien Asif Currimbhoy commence par une brève scène entre Dumas père et Dumas fils, où les deux hommes discutent de l’intérêt d’utiliser le personnage de l’abbé Faria dans le roman que Dumas père est en train d’écrire (Le comte de Monte-Cristo, bien sûr) – voir extrait ci-dessous.
De nombreuses scènes sont espacées de plusieurs années, donnant une nette impression de décousu. Nombre de conversations sont incompréhensibles. En outre, plusieurs scènes retracent des rêves ou des cauchemars. L’intérêt de Currimbhoy pour l’abbé Faria tient peut-être au fait que ce dernier était né en Inde, à Goa. Mais il me faut reconnaître que la raison d’être et la signification de cette pièce m’ont totalement échappé.
The play begins with a scene between the famous novelist, Alexandre Dumas, with his son (an equally well-known literary figure in his day) who carried the same name. The scene takes place in the library of the father. DUMAS (father): . . .an exciting figure. . . A. DUMAS (son): (interrupting). . .a mountebank. . . DUMAS (father): . . .dedicated, honest, true. . . A. DUMAS (son): . . .a charlatan, imposter, and quite false. . DUMAS (father): Jules Claretie called him "un homme savant, plein de foi". . . DUMAS (son): . . .the priests condemned him for "anti-Christian, devilish and immoral practices". DUMAS (father): Are we speaking of the same person? DUMAS (son): Evidently. DUMAS (father): Then it proves my point. (the son looks at him questioningly) Abbé Faria was no ordinary man. Son of an ordained priest and nun. . . (Looking at the expression of surprise on his son's face. . .) Sorry. I should explain: his parents separated after he was born, then took the holy vows.. there's no doubt there must have been a. . .a. . .strange factor. . .about his early growth. . . DUMAS (son): (excited now). . .then to come to France, this East Indian. . . DUMAS (father): . . .Marching at the head of a band of insurgents in the Revolution, this mysterious priest with dark emaciated features, denounced both by the State and clergy for his inflammatory speeches and as a gambler who habitually visited the Palais Royale. No, Abbé Faria was no ordinary man. DUMAS (son): . . .But, father, that does not necessarily make for an interesting character for your novel, does it? DUMAS (father): (slowly) No. I'd have to go into greater depth for that. He would somehow, somewhere, have to become part of me. And I in turn must. . .voice his doubts, feel his power, seek his identity. . .then perhaps. . .I shall see him as the Abbé Faria of my making, imprisoned, acclaimed as the mad priest, but carrying the secrets of Monte Cristo, those fabulous treasures of his own discovery. . .(getting up and walking around). Shall we then start at a modest cafe near the Palais Royale. . .(the light dims out on them, and grows on the main stage—suggestive of a cafe, sounds of accordion music, tables with candles.) |
