[Critique] “The Silence of the Embers”, Alec Serra-Wagneur

The silence of embers, Alec Serra-Wagneur’s first publication, offers us eight short stories whose distinct trajectories create unity through the atmosphere that emanates from them and this immersive way of being part of the living. On foot in the forest, on a bicycle in the mountains or on Nordic skates on an isolated river, the characters measure themselves against the elements. In the heart of wild places, imbued with a wisdom that precedes them and goes beyond them, the protagonists try to access this inner voice that struggles to reveal itself in the noise of civilization. In a spare style, the first author invites us to dense universes that conceal a disturbing strangeness. On the path to peace, the characters stumble, question themselves, revisit their past, lugging their mystery out of sight with the desire to reveal themselves to themselves: “I wanted to go through the forest without having to confront, without carrying the weight of a life to be saved, if not mine. »

The silence of embers

★★★

Alec Serra-Wagneur, The house on fire, Montreal, 2023, 160 pages

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