There are two years almost to the day, it was praised for A umber , the fifth novel by American writer Ron Rash. It now does the same with his second novel, which has just come out in print.
This is a copyright problem that would have delayed for from many years the output of the second novel by Ron Rash, a writer from South Carolina which we never tire of boasting immense talent. Saints at the River was indeed written at the beginning of the third millennium – long before The world right , A umber or Serena , which was the subject of a film adaptation in 2014 with Jennifer Lawrence in the title role – but it was only last Tuesday that one can read French version published under the title the song of the Tamassee .
And if you wonder what Tamassee, useless to look on Wikipedia. “I invented this river here based on the Chattooga, true river that separates South Carolina Georgia says Ron Rash, we reached by telephone in Appalachia last few days. I changed his name because it was here that was filmed Deliverance John Boorman and I did not want that readers associate the locals to completely siphoned people. That said, the incident that is the heart of The Song of Tamassee really happened many times, even last year. Luckily, it did not happen to a child. That would be too horrible if it was to take place … “
In the din of the storm
instead of just sitting quietly with his family, who picnic near the banks of the Tamassee, Ruth Kowalsky, 12, will have the very bad idea of go wading in its turbulent waters. In neither one nor two, it will be swept away by the current and deeply submerged under the waves. So deeply that his body does not rise to the surface and it will appeal to a team of experienced divers to try to recover it. Wasted effort. The body is stuck under a rock because of a hydraulic jump, nobody can take away.
For parents, it is a nightmare that does not seem to have an end. For three weeks later, little Ruth still lies at the bottom of the river. His father, who is not short of money and resources, however, has a solution: diverting water with a removable dam that can be assembled and disassembled in a single day. A priori, the idea is not bad. Except it ignores a crucial point: last wild river of the state, the Tamassee is protected by the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, a federal law prohibiting anyone from disturbing its natural course. One exception may also enable quantity of unscrupulous real estate developers to ransack the banks, the corner of the environmentalists are desperate to prevent the installation of the dam, what happened to the beautiful Chattahoochee unquestionably exemplary .
“in the United States, this kind of controversy is still valid, says Ron Rash. As recently as January, environmentalist protester demanding access to a national park in Oregon was even killed by the police … “
a strong advocate of nature and all the beauty it contains, Ron Rash and plunges headlong into an insoluble dilemma: save the soul of a little girl who could not be buried according to the rites Catholic as his body was not recovered, or save the future of a river, in which perhaps we will soon be unable to fish. A story he struggled to write, because it is also dad, because he has struggled to get into the skin of a man overwhelmed by grief and because he did not swim against the current.
by staging Maggie Glenn, a daughter of thought that has abandoned boat and hooks to become a photographer, and Allen Hemphill a journalist adrift having once won the Pulitzer prize, Ron Rash however skillfully managed to succeed at the game. Better than that, he managed to drown the fish and stir us the guts of an end to end . So much so we could not resist asking him what he would do in place of Ruth’s father. “If it is not actually happened to us, I sincerely believe that we can not know, says he. But I think I would be the opinion of Luke Miller. “
A cryptic position that deliberately refuses to enlighten the answer lying a cappella between the pages of Song of the Tamassee .
Photo courtesy
The song of the Tamassee Ron Rash, Editions du Seuil 240 pages
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