The Arab of the future 6 | Neither Arab nor French, but cartoonist, yes

The back cover of this 6^e volume, in bookstores on January 6, leaves no doubt. “This book tells the true story of the disappearance of the Arab of the future. This will indeed be the conclusion of this formidable adventure launched in 2014. To mark the occasion, we spoke with Riad Sattouf.

From his childhood in Libya, then to Ter Maaleh, Syria, until his move to Rennes, France, and the departure of his father to Saudi Arabia, then back to Syria with his younger brother Fadi (whom he kidnaps ), we have followed over the years all the adventures of Riad Sattouf’s youth.

What state of mind is he in these days, knowing that the adventure of The Arab of the future is now complete?

“The book came out in France barely a month and a half after my last drawings, so I didn’t completely realize it,” Riad Sattouf told us in a telephone interview. But sure, when I started this comic eight years ago, I knew where I was going, I knew there would be six volumes, but I didn’t know how long it would take me to get there. »

Over 3 million albums!

Very well received in France since its release, Riad Sattouf admits that “there is something dizzying” in all that. “There are people who know my family better than me! It’s still very moving. » With more than 3 million albums sold (for the first five volumes), his series is one of the greatest successes of French comics.

It is for the author the end of a major cycle, is he afraid of living a kind of postpartum?

“I don’t have the anxiety of the blank page because I’ve always had several projects in progress. I continue my youth series Esther’s notebooksI am working on the second volume of the series The young actor, The adventures of Vincent Lacoste at the cinema and I’m writing the screenplay for a film for the three actors of Les Inconnus [Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan et Pascal Légitimus], so I don’t have time to have the blues. »

Despite the cartoonist’s humor (present throughout the album), there are still trying passages in the conclusion of his story. Were there more difficult episodes to tell?

“The first five volumes were pre-cut in pencil, I had them read by my trusted readers, and I drew them in ink. For the sixth, it was different, because I broke my arm, so I fell behind, I had to draw the album quickly, in automatic writing, so I asked myself fewer questions. When we walk on embers, we go faster, ”he illustrates.

Between two chairs

The whole series shows the young Riad torn between his two origins (Syrian and French), two cultures in virtual opposition.

Riad Sattouf likes this quote from Salman Rushdie: “A man has no roots, he has feet. ” ” This is the story of The Arab of the future, he tells us. We are not condemned by our own origins. We can always move forward. We may have the impression of growing up with defects, but that does not prevent us from fulfilling ourselves. »

And fate in all this? The famous mektoub ? That his father is whispering in his ear (in his unconscious). “I think it was Carl Jung who said, ‘All the unconscious phenomena, neuroses and suppressed emotions will one day come back to haunt us and we’ll call it fate.’ Honestly, I think we can get past that. »

personal story

The fact remains that it was the civil war in Syria (in 2011) that gave Riad Sattouf the impetus to recount his youth, even if he refrained from going into too many political details. “I wanted to be as close as possible to the events that happened, as I experienced them, without putting forward an ideology. Life is more complex. My character recounts his daily life, his life, and he tries to understand, that’s all. »

Riad Sattouf also tells it in volume 6 of The Arab of the future, he was influenced by the Phamille booklet by Jean-Christophe Menu, who recounts his daily life.

“It was the first time that I read an autobiographical album written in a caustic but moving tone, which told a family story on a daily basis, he tells us. Of course, this narrative mode interested me. When I did The Arab of the future, I imagined that my first reader was my Breton grandmother who did not read comics. I think that’s what allowed me to reach so many people. »

We discuss with the author the translation of The Arab of the future in 22 languages… except Arabic. There were indeed discussions with an Egyptian publisher, but the project fell through when he wanted to translate only the first album.

For Riad Sattouf, The Arab of the future is a whole, the six volumes must be available. But beyond that, the author wonders about “the release of a book in a totalitarian country”. “If freedom of expression is non-existent, does that mean that the publisher is close to power? It’s complicated… If a publisher wishes to translate the series, I will consider the proposal, but no one has shown interest yet. »

In the end, after six volumes, what interpretation does Riad Sattouf make of its title, The Arab of the future ?

The author answers us with a quote from filmmaker David Lynch, whom he adores. “He had been asked the same question about the title of his film Lost Highway. And he replied: “The answer is very simple. It’s the movie!” So The Arab of the future, these are the six volumes that I wrote and drew! he replies with a burst of laughter.

In bookstores from January 6.

The Arab of the future 6

Riad Sattouf

Allary Editions

184 pages