Riad Sattouf, the comic book author, is releasing a new opus from his famous series "The Arab of the Future".
In this fifth version, the author recounts the birth of his vocation and pays homage to the teachers who believed in him and who, he says, "save society and the French Republic every day".
He remembers in particular a professor of visual arts from 3rd in Rennes, who had perceived her aptitudes.
"I have fond memories of many of my teachers, even those who were disagreeable. In my Syrian school, the teachers taught us to read and write, but the children were trained. In France, they brought up their students. is really the hardest job, the least considered and yet the most essential, "said the Franco-Syrian author to AFP.
Hello!
And here is the cover of my next book, "The Arab of the Future 5, a youth in the Middle East (1992-1994)"!
It will be released on November 5, 2020 at @allaryeditions!
Do you want to read it?
❤️ pic.twitter.com/TaBkV4DkcP
- Riad Sattouf (@RiadSattouf) September 15, 2020
Adolescence
"We do not realize how difficult it is to find ourselves facing middle school students, high school students. It is they, the teachers, who save society and the French Republic every day," he adds.
In this fifth and penultimate part of his autobiographical story, which comes out Thursday, Riad Sattouf recounts the years 1992-1994, when teenagers listen to Nirvana and wear the first Adidas Torsion.
He is disturbed by what he calls his father's "coup".
His teachers don't always find him attentive in class.
"Some of them could be skeptical of the student that I was. They were often right! I remember one of them saying to me in a loud voice: Sattouf, you have facilities, but you know what happens to those who have it and who don't work? They end up breaking their mouths, "he explains.
"Never suffered from racism"
One of the comic springs rests precisely on the fact that, despite his name, the adolescent, from a Breton mother, is not perceived as Arab.
When he is assaulted in the street by three young men with "the heads of Bretons", but a "chief who seemed to him, of Arab origin", he cannot make them believe that he is Syrian.
Later, he confesses: "I feared people of Arab origin".
“The Internet didn't exist, and the world was more mysterious, bigger, than it is today. The information came from the news, the radio, the press. And when I said that I I was Syrian, people didn't know what Syria was, or what was going on there, or even that it was an Arab country, "recalls the 42-year-old designer.
The differences seem invisible to college students of that time.
And the tensions around Islam do not exist.
"Personally I have never suffered from racism in France, I have never been prevented in my progress because of my origins. It did not go beyond the mockery on my name", underlines the author.
Committed
His commitment to freedom of expression is reflected in a collaboration with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for his annual album.
These "100 drawings for the freedom of the press" retrace his journey.
"I was extremely honored that Reporters Without Borders contacted me to make this album. There are the drawings, but there is also the story of a career", announces Riad Sattouf.
According to its editor, "The Arab of the future" has accumulated 2 million copies in France since 2014. It has been translated into 22 languages ... But still not Arabic.
Riad Sattouf, finally, illustrates the cover of "13 à table", a collection of unpublished short stories by 13 writers for the benefit of the Restos du Cœur, which also comes out on Thursday.
With AFP
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