{"id":27306,"date":"2020-05-29T07:20:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T03:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/?p=27306"},"modified":"2020-05-29T07:20:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T03:20:41","slug":"aslakha-callikan-proag-a-rejoint-marcel-cabon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/aslakha-callikan-proag-a-rejoint-marcel-cabon\/","title":{"rendered":"Aslakha Callikan-Proag a rejoint Marcel Cabon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Obituaire<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"Succombant \u00e0 une crise cardiaque en d\u00e9but de semaine, Aslakha Callikan-Proag combattait une maladie depuis trois semaines. Mais, la mort nous l\u2019a enlev\u00e9e \u00e0 jamais.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elle rejoindra \u00e0 coup s\u00fbr son ma\u00eetre Marcel Cabon : elle lui avait d\u00e9di\u00e9 sa vie de chercheure. Depuis mon entr\u00e9e en journalisme \u00e0 L\u2019express <\/em>en 1991, elle ne vivait que pour mettre Cabon en lumi\u00e8re. Beaucoup m\u00e9disaient alors d\u2019elle, disant qu\u2019elle \u00ab accaparait \u00bb l\u2019auteur de \u00ab Namast\u00e9<\/em> \u00bb, mais il faut reconna\u00eetre qu\u2019un \u00e9crivain a souvent besoin d\u2019un ex\u00e9g\u00e8te sinc\u00e8re, pour entretenir sa l\u00e9gende. Aslakha l\u2019a fait pour Cabon. Et elle est pour beaucoup dans le renouvellement perp\u00e9tuel de la lecture de l\u2019\u0153uvre de Cabon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brillante intellectuelle, Aslakha \u00e9tait la s\u0153ur de Dan Callikan, lui-m\u00eame laur\u00e9at. D\u2019allure mince, elle \u00e9tait toujours cintr\u00e9e dans un sari color\u00e9, et \u00e9tait de tous les d\u00e9bats sur la culture dans son \u00eele, et dans le monde. De sa petite voix fluette, elle d\u00e9clinait alors Cabon dans un monologue fascinant, qui d\u00e9montrait que Marcel \u00e9tait \u00e0 ses c\u00f4t\u00e9s,\u00a0 tellement elle en parlait avec fascination.<\/span><\/p>\n

On avait d\u2019ailleurs con\u00e7u un \u00ab Portrait d\u2019artiste \u00bb de 52 minutes sur la vie et l\u2019\u0153uvre de l\u2019\u00e9crivain, avec elle en narratrice. L\u2019\u00e9mission est toujours \u00e0 la MBC. Et ce serait un bel hommage \u00e0 elle que de la reprogrammer. A l\u2019\u00e9tranger, les ex\u00e9g\u00e8tes sont aussi r\u00e9v\u00e9r\u00e9s que les auteurs car, souvent, ces adorateurs d\u2019un \u00e9crivain et de son \u0153uvre arrivent \u00e0 nous faire voir d\u2019autres aspects d\u2019un \u00eatre qui ne nous \u00e9tait connu qu\u2019\u00e0 \u00a0travers\u00a0 ses livres.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bien entendu, certains avaient reproch\u00e9 \u00e0 Aslakha de s\u2019\u00eatre trop \u00ab appropri\u00e9 \u00bb Cabon. Mais, pour ma part, pour avoir souvent parl\u00e9 de son travail de chercheure, je sais qu\u2019elle \u00e9tait sinc\u00e8re dans sa d\u00e9marche. Et il manque de telles personnes dans notre landerneau litt\u00e9raire\u00a0: des \u00eatres sinc\u00e8res qui \u00e9pousent un \u00e9crivain, et son \u00e9criture,\u00a0 et restituent ensuite leur regard d\u2019amoureux de ses mots.<\/span><\/p>\n

D\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e2ge de 65 ans, Aslakha compte une abondante bibliographie sur Cabon: \u00ab Contes, nouvelles et chroniques de Marcel Cabon \u00bb, \u00a0\u00ab Cahier deuxi\u00e8me \u00bb et \u00ab L\u2019enfant bihari \u00bb, entre autres. Son grand regret \u00e9tait de n\u2019avoir pas pu retrouver le roman, publi\u00e9 en feuilleton, que Cabon publia dans un journal, \u00e0 Madagascar. Elle voulait tant retrouver ce livre, mais la distance, et le temps, lui jouaient des tours. Je l\u2019imagine d\u00e9j\u00e0 aux portes du paradis des artistes, demandant o\u00f9 se trouve Marcel Cabon. Et ils doivent \u00eatre d\u00e9j\u00e0 en train de dialoguer. Lui, l\u2019accueillant avec bienveillance et, elle, \u00a0sachant enfin o\u00f9 se trouvait\u00ab La s\u00e9raphine \u00bb.<\/span><\/p>\n

A la famille endeuill\u00e9e, mes sinc\u00e8res condol\u00e9ances. J\u2019ai souvent c\u00f4toy\u00e9 Aslakha. On se tutoyait, et il y avait un respect mutuel entre nous. Son regard per\u00e7ant, voire transper\u00e7ant, me manquera. Il me restera ses nombreux \u00e9crits pour apprendre \u00e0 la retrouver dans la qui\u00e9tude. Je sais qu\u2019il y avait des in\u00e9dits d\u2019elle sur Cabon. Qu\u2019elle avait \u00e9t\u00e9 oblig\u00e9e de ne pas publier, vu l\u2019incompr\u00e9hension autour de son travail de recherche sur l\u2019auteur de \u00ab Namast\u00e9<\/em> \u00bb. C\u2019est d\u2019ailleurs par ce salut indien qu\u2019elle m\u2019accueillait toujours. Comme une introduction au plus beau des romans jamais \u00e9crits dans notre \u00eele. Aslakha Callikan-Proag n\u2019est plus. Et Marcel Cabon doit maintenant \u00eatre le plus heureux des hommes. Il retrouvera celle qui a entretenu sa l\u00e9gende ici-bas !<\/span><\/p>\n

Sedley Assonne<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

*\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

A Tribute from MGI colleagues<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It is with great sadness that we learned on Tuesday 26th<\/sup> May 2020 that Mrs Aslakha Callikan-Proag had passed away. Mrs Aslakha Callikan-Proag will always be remembered by her colleagues at Mahatma Gandhi Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was held in high regard by all who knew her. She was respected for her forthright manner \u00a0and outspokenness. She spoke her mind, but, also sometimes allowed her deeper emotions to come through. This was particularly apparent when she spoke about the Mauritian author Marcel Cabon, whose writings were the central focus of much of Mrs Callikan-Proag\u2019s academic work. Her critical work on Cabon was seminal in the 1970s and remains an important reference in literary critique in Mauritius.<\/span><\/p>\n

She was also very interested in cultural diversity and delved into history and the arduous field of literary translation. In the latter field, among other works, she produced a translation of a selection of short stories of Abhimanyu Unuth from Hindi into French.<\/span><\/p>\n

We shall remember her as a remarkable woman under a \u201cfrail frame\u201d. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on 29 May 2020<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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