2023-08-25 08:17:43
Teacher of South American literature, Benoît Coquil, publishes Small things, a novel between fiction and reality… which runs on shrooms. Mind-blowing interview.
Photo caption: LA STAR DES CHAMPIS_ Benoît’s t-shirt pays homage to Maria Sabina, the magic mushroom shaman in Mexico.
Your beginnings?
Benoît Coquil: As a child, I had lots of notebooks and I loved school exercises. I had the intuition that I was going to pursue writing.
The pitch of Little things?
Just before the Covid, I went on vacation to Mexico with friends. In a market stall in Oaxaca, next to Che Guevara’s T-shirts, I found María Sabina’s. A local friend told me his story. He’s a real local star. A shaman known for her rituals around psilocybes (powerful hallucinogenic mushroom, editor’s note) and her extraordinary verbal trances.
The sub-word?
Implicitly, it is the story of this sort of Disneylandization of the world in the 20th century, of the commercialization of spaces and natural products.
Have you been able to test the mushrooms?
There is a huge shamanic tourism that still exists today, and that is destroying the whole local economy. So I didn’t eat them there. But I’m growing some at home!
Your process?
I like to work between the factual and the romantic. With the concern that readers do not feel deceived regarding the authenticity of what I am saying. It’s a professional deformation, my handwriting is a little white… academic. I am attached to the truth above all.
What do you expect from the release of your book?
I hope that someone tells me in a very precise way what was liked or not. I have an eye for detail and I would like that to come out in the comments.
Be part of the literary season?
Even if we are hundreds to publish at this time, we feel that there is a particular attention paid to the text. Within the publishing house, there is a crazy job to make the publications visible. We feel lucky!
Little things (Editions Rivages, 224 pages, 19.50€)
A.P.
Photo : Arnaud Juhérian
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#Benoît #Coquil #truth
