Mbonga's letter

THE LETTER OF THE MBONGA

Fragments of a life stranded at the station

Suleimancassam

The nostalgic tone with which it begins THE LETTER OF MBONGA – Fragments of a Life Stranded in the Station it was fair to an almost extinct time; when the first passion lasted forever, times when love letters were still written and the train, broadband internet of the time, brought in the post the news of the world out there, through the station where Salatiel meets Mbonga.

She promises to write to you. Since then, her letter will be the reason for the constant pilgrimage of the young man to the station, pilgrimage only interrupted with the years of exile – whose aim is to forget Mbonga – in the ruins of the Greek house, the late boss. Now Salatiel returns to the station to put an end to the pain of her lack. And it is from this that, in the time that he is there, between morning and night high, the story is told.

Because the letter can still come, he doesn't rush things. Walk around, revisit the past. A revisitation that results in the fragments that make up the narrative. The postman, who had witnessed that wait for many years, is – apart from Bobi, the dog from the Greek – the only one who appears there.

A train comes out of time. After all, Salatiel may leave in search of her. Phêpa, the mailman, when seeing his friend on board, lets escape from his mouth an acidic sentence on love – throughout the narrative the word love appears only twice, on the first and last page.

In addition to Salatiel and Mbonga's fleeting novel, other cases are included in the plot; such as that of Greek, who dies in the explosion of the still while trying to isolate the essence of eucalyptus perfume. His wish was to present the black Julia, the secret woman, whom the others saw as their maid.

This narrative develops with relaying of various voices, in a poetic and evocative tone and with much attachment to the earth; the text is dense, rich and caudalous.