Jacaranda(蓝花楹，一种树木). By Gaël Faye. Translated(翻译，被翻译) by Sarah Ardizzone. Hogarth; 272 pages; $28. Chatto and Windus; £18.99
《蓝花楹》。盖尔·法伊著，莎拉·阿迪佐内译。霍加斯出版社；272页；28美元。查托和温德斯出版社；18.99英镑。
IT WAS THE kind of debut(处女作，首次亮相) every aspiring(有抱负的，渴望的) novelist dreams of. When Gaël Faye, a hip-hop musician turned writer, published “Petit Pays” (“Small Country”) in 2016, it gathered immediate acclaim.(当说唱歌手转型为作家的盖尔·法伊于2016年出版《小国》时，立即获得了广泛赞誉。) The novel—inspired(受启发，灵感来源于) by his experience of the Burundian civil war as a teenager—sold 1.5m copies, was adapted(改编，适应) into a film and is now taught in French schools.
这是每个有抱负的小说家都梦寐以求的处女作。当说唱歌手转型为作家的盖尔·法伊于2016年出版《小国》时，立即获得了广泛赞誉。这部小说灵感来源于他少年时期经历布隆迪内战的经历，销量达150万册，被改编成电影，如今在法国学校中教授。
It was a tough act to follow(难以超越的成就). But “Jacaranda”, released(发布，发行) in France in 2024, sold nearly 100,000 copies in its first month and won the Prix Renaudot(雷诺多奖，法国文学奖), one of France’s most prestigious(享有盛誉的) literary prizes. This time Mr Faye—whose father is French and whose mother is Rwandan—draws on(利用，借鉴) his memories of visiting his mother’s homeland as a child. His spare, lucid prose, now translated into English, explores the aftermath of the genocide of 1994, when perhaps 500,000 people, most of them ethnic Tutsi, were killed over the course of three months.(他简洁清晰的散文，如今已译成英文，探讨了1994年大屠杀的后果，当时约50万人，其中大多数是图西族人，在三个月内被杀害。)
这是一个难以超越的成就。但《蓝花楹》于2024年在法国出版，首月销量近10万册，并荣获法国最负盛名的文学奖之一——雷诺多奖。这一次，法伊先生——父亲是法国人，母亲是卢旺达人——利用了他童年时探访母亲故土的记忆。他简洁而清晰的散文，如今已被译成英文，探讨了1994年大屠杀的后果，当时大约50万人，其中大多数是图西族人，在三个月内被杀害。