CRITICISM – In every era there are fashionable topics and others that are carefully avoided, whether in the press or in public debate. The twenty-two authors of this collective work, « Fear: crisis of the century? »break the silence on a particularly taboo subject in this post-pandemic period: fear.
The poem, “Inventory of my fears”, by Ze Jam Afane superbly introduces, in the form of a long introspective river, the work divided into five main tributaries with porous borders. It took no less than twenty-two articles to outline a non-exhaustive inventory of the fears of this twenty-first century which is just beginning, addressing the theme from angles as diverse as sex, health and politics.
The fear linked to the Covid 19 pandemic inspired this book and constitutes one of the five chapters. The recent pandemic could be, according to the poet Ze Jam Afane, seen as “a global exercise in courage, solidarity and humanism” in order to “find the balance between prudence and freedom”. The Franco-Cameroonian poet sees far and his vision today looks more like a prophecy than a reality. As indeed shown by JKD, one of the two co-editors of this book, in an article devoted to the coronavirus in Africa, which is “a half-benign virus for the youngest among us and also for the healthy” has become for many African countries a political priority with deleterious economic effects through an effect of imitation of health measures as disproportionate as they are ineffective in richer countries, whether Western countries or China. In France, this balance of which the poet dreams has not yet been found, we have even gone very far on the contrary, as demonstrated with great humor by Elsa Lévy in her interpellation of the former Prime Minister, Mr. Castex. It is also the political governance of this health crisis in France that is called into question in a fierce parody tale entitled “The Wolves Enter the Farm” of the mysterious author, Arnold Ruben, who preferred to use a pen name (out of prudence or lack of professional freedom?). This tale is explicitly inspired by « animal farm » by George Orwell. This same twentieth-century British author also inspired JKD’s foreword through his latest novel, 1984which could be a frightening anticipation of the “World after”, that is to say that of today.
If the Covid-19 inspired this book and constitutes an important chapter, it is obviously not the only treaty in this opus. As Raffaël Enault, the second co-editor with JKD, points out, the four other chapters look from different angles at fear and its multiple variations in this new century, whether individual or collective. In particular, phenomena as different as eco-anxiety among young adults or the fear of old age among women and men today are discussed. Sex can also be very scary, whether it’s the fear of women’s enjoyment wonderfully described by Stéphanie Melyon-Reinette or even the fear of gender equality among conservatives in Japan, analyzed by Aline Henninger. The everyday fear in contemporary Syria is admirably depicted through Greta Sala’s critique of the contemporary novel, Those who are afraid, by Dima Wannous. Éric Ouzounian, for his part, praises the collective and political commitment to deal with fear.
« Fear: crisis of the century » thus succeeds in the bet of dealing with a universal subject (what could be more universal than the fear of dying?) while reflecting in its entire diversity our contemporary era, crossed since the attacks of September 11, 2001 by multiple crises. Fear in the twenty-first century has only just begun…