Dany Laferrière. Tout ce qu’on ne te dira pas, Mongo, Montréal, Mémoire d’encrier (“Chronique” Series), 2011.

Commented by Elissa Kayal, administrative assistant and McConnell Professor of Practice program coordinator (July 2020):

While walking on Saint-Denis Street, Dany Laferrière met Mongo, a 23-year-old Cameroonian immigrant who had just arrived in Montréal. In other words, a newborn. Tracing back his own arrival in Québec 40 years earlier, Dany Laferrière accompanies this man in his integration “into the great urban boiler” of Montreal. This is followed by a conversation, a commentary, a guide, even a relay: Everything they won’t tell you, Mongo.

The arrival, this “intimate moment that reminds us of the beginnings of a romance,” begins with jazz, beer, and dance. Quickly, through the eyes of a newborn, we discover a common sky, the one that overlooks both Haiti and Québec. Then come the seasons, the moods, and love. This same onlook, more mature, will also consider history: religion, demography, the Quiet Revolution, modernity. French, the language of the colonizer in the South, of the colonized in the North, more than a culture, is perhaps the reason for a universal condition. “A sensitive zone, Mongo,” warns the author in addressing these issues.

Dany Laferrière’s articulate presentation retains an impressive sensitivity and humility. Despite its depth, his work does not lack humour and lightness. You will even be entitled to a “Short glossary for newcomers” and a “Short treatise on flirting in Québec.” For Dany Laferrière addresses not only immigrants, but Québecers as well. Love, that’s all we’re going to tell you.

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