Indefinite Leave to Remain - Translate Swiss Books
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Indefinite Leave
to Remain
Joseph Incardona
Novel
French
Title
Permis C
Publisher
bsn press, Lausanne
Publication date
September 2016
Pages
232
ISBN
978-2-940516-51-3
Translation rights
Giuseppe Merrone
giuseppe.merrone@bsnpress.com
The narrator looks back on his childhood, as the son of a
Swiss mother and Sicilian immigrant father. André struggles Author
with his confused identity and his rootlessness, and only Joseph Incardona is an author,
scriptwriter and producer, of
has the macho role model of his father to draw on in the face mixed Italian and Swiss origin.
of the gang violence to which he falls victim. Meanwhile, He has written ten novels, sever-
al theatre texts, screenplays and
as he experiences his first sexual longings and encounters, story-boards for comic books.
he learns to be a man in more ways than one. He is both an unconventional
personality and a prolific writer,
whose influences include not
only his mixed Swiss-Italian back-
“Although my father had married a Swiss woman, the ground, but also noir novels
countless to-ings and fro-ings between the two countries and 20th-century American lit-
erature.
didn’t exactly help our case as regards obtaining the
Photo: Ekko von Schwichow
famous Permit C – the settlement permit that everyone
pinned their hopes on, the one you needed to become
Translator
genuinely integrated in Switzerland.” Jackie Smith is a literary trans-
lator from French and German,
and winner of the Austrian
Cultural Forum London Trans
lation Prize 2017. A graduate of
Cambridge University, she
recently won a place on the
New Books in German Emerging
Translators Programme. Her
co-translation of the topical best-
seller The Panama Papers by
B. Obermayer and F. Obermaier
was published last year.
Joseph Incardona
Permis C Indefinite Leave to Remain
Joseph Incardona Joseph Incardona
French original (p. 15–17) Excerpt translated by Jackie Smith (p. 15–17)
Ma mère s’est assurée que je me sois brossé les My mother made sure I had brushed my teeth, then
dents avant de m’embrasser et de partir faire ses she gave me a kiss and set off for the private houses
ménages chez des privés. Mon père était déjà au boulot, where she did the cleaning. My father, too, was already
lui aussi. C’était une période où tout s’imbriquait, des at work. It was a period in which our routines all slotted
Lego agencés à la va-vite. together, like Lego bricks hastily assembled.
Je me suis coiffé, habillé. Sur la table de la cuisine I got dressed, did my hair. There was a hot chocolate
m’attendaient un chocolat chaud et deux tartines au and two slices of bread and honey waiting for me on the
miel. Ma mère avait posé mon nouveau cartable sur une kitchen table. My mother had left my new schoolbag on a
chaise. Enfin, « nouveau » n’était pas vraiment le mot chair. Actually, ‘new’ was not, strictly speaking, the
adéquat car le cartable en question avait appartenu au right word, as this schoolbag had previously belonged to
cousin Patrick, mon aîné de quatre ans. my cousin Patrick, four years my senior.
J’ai fermé la porte à double tour, passé ma clé I double-locked the front door, hung the key around
autour du cou et l’ai cachée sous mon pull. Mon cartable my neck and hid it under my jumper. My schoolbag was
était un modèle en carton bouilli et en peau de vache, the kind made of stiff cardboard and cowhide, with two
avec deux catadioptres orange sur les fermoirs. J’avais orange reflectors on the clasps. I had pestered my
insisté toute la semaine auprès de ma mère jusqu’à ce mother all week until she finally gave in and asked her
qu’elle cède enfin et demande à sa soeur si elle ne l’avait sister whether she still had it. Aunt Josiane’s husband
pas jeté. Rémi, le mari de tante Josiane, était employé Rémi worked at a bank. Things were going well for them;
de banque. Ça marchait bien pour eux, ils venaient de they had just bought themselves a detached house in
s’acheter une villa en banlieue. Ma mère rechignait à lui the suburbs. My mother was reluctant to ask her for
demander quoi que ce soit, mais c’était un cas de force anything, but this was a case of needs must: at school,
majeure : sans ton cartable en peau de vache, t’étais without a cowhide bag, you were dead meat.
scolairement mort. Once outside I inhaled a big breath of air. With each
Une fois dehors, j’ai inspiré un bon coup. À chaque step I could hear my pencil case bouncing up and down
pas, j’entendais la trousse rebondir dans mon sac. Une inside my bag. A clear day: blue sky, birds chirping in the
journée claire : le ciel bleu, les oiseaux gazouillant dans trees. My father had been at his new workplace since
les arbres. Mon père était à son nouveau travail depuis dawn, and I was on my way to my new school.
l’aube, et moi j’allais à ma nouvelle école. I saw them as soon as I had rounded the concrete
Je les ai vus après avoir contourné la fontaine en fountain. The square ended in a narrow alley that you
béton. La place se terminait par un goulet qu’il fallait had to pass through to reach the school playground.
traverser pour rejoindre le préau de l’école. Il n’y avait There was no way of avoiding them, short of doing a
aucun moyen de les éviter, à moins d’effectuer un long lengthy detour around the back of the apartment blocks.
détour derrière les immeubles. L’autre solution était de The other solution was to go back home, but how could I
revenir en arrière, mais je ne voyais pas comment possibly explain to my parents that I had missed school?
j’aurais pu expliquer à mes parents que j’avais manqué I walked on – my legs walked on – swept towards my
l’école. J’ai continué – mes jambes ont continué –, porté unremarkable fate, one of those everyday mini-dramas
vers un destin tout petit, un de ces petits drames that punctuate childhood.
jalonnant le quotidien de l’enfance. They were perched on a low wall. The Gang Leader, a
Ils étaient assis sur un muret. Le Chef, un rouquin et redhead and a tall skinny guy with sticking-out ears.
un grand maigre aux oreilles décollées. Au moment où je Just as I was passing in front of them, the Gang LeaderJoseph Incardona
passais devant eux, le Chef a dit : spoke:
– Hé, le Rital ! Ramène ta gueule par ici ! ‘Hey you, Greaseball! Get your mug over here!’
Rouquin m’a rejoint et m’a barré le chemin. Redhead approached me and blocked my path.
– Paraît que t’es un merdeux de Rital à peau de ‘So turns out you’re some piece-of-shit Greaseball
vache, a fait le Chef. Ici, j’ai dit ! with a cowhide bag’, Gang Leader said. ‘Here, I said!’
Je me suis approché. À côté du Chef, Grand Maigre I drew nearer. Sitting next to Gang Leader, Tall
me fixait tout en se curant le nez. Il en a ressorti une Skinny was looking straight at me, picking his nose. He
crotte brune qu’il a commencé à rouler entre ses extracted a brown bogey, which he proceeded to roll
doigts. between his fingers.
– Ton cartable, a dit le Chef. ‘Your bag’, said Gang Leader.
Sa main a puisé à l’intérieur, il a ouvert la trousse, His hand delved inside, he opened the pencil case,
choisi le plus beau stylo qu’il a mis dans sa poche avant picked out the nicest pen and put it in his pocket before
de jeter le reste par terre. throwing the rest of the contents on the ground.
– Tous les autres ont un goûter. Pourquoi t’en as pas, ‘Everyone else has brought a snack. How come you
toi ? haven’t got one?’
Je n’ai rien répondu. I didn’t reply.
– Peut-être que sa maman n’est pas rentrée de la ‘Maybe his mum was out all night?’ Redhead suggest-
nuit ? a proposé Rouquin. Peut-être qu’elle suce les ed. ‘Maybe she sucks off the migrant workers on the
saisouns* sur le chantier de l’autoroute ? motorway roadworks?’
Les trois se sont esclaffés. Ils étaient plus âgés que The three of them burst out laughing. They were
moi, beaucoup plus costauds. On insultait ma mère, et je older than me, and much stronger. They were insulting
ne faisais rien. my mother, and I was doing sod all.
– Tu sais quoi ? a dit le Chef à Grand Maigre. Tu ‘You know what?’ Gang Leader said to Tall Skinny.
devrais lui donner ta crotte de nez pour son dix heures. ‘You should give him your bogey for his mid-morning
J’ai compris que ça se gâtait vraiment. Je me mordais snack.’
l’intérieur des lèvres pour ne pas chialer, larmes d’im- I could see things were turning bad. I chewed the
puissance et de rage. inside of my lips to stop myself crying, stop the tears of
– Ramasse ton sac ! a ordonné le Chef. Ramasse-le et impotence and rage.
viens chercher ton goûter. ‘Pick up your bag!’ Gang Leader commanded. ‘Pick it
Je n’ai pas bougé. Rouquin a voulu me pousser. Je me up and come and collect your snack.’
suis écarté et il a failli perdre l’équilibre. La cloche de I didn’t budge. Redhead went to push me. I stepped
l’école s’est mise à sonner, j’arriverais en retard. En aside and he nearly lost his balance. The school bell
même temps, ce n’était pas si important. Je me suis dit started ringing, I was going to be late. Not that it
qu’il fallait que j’y aille, que je me mette simplement à mattered that much. I told myself I had to get going, that
marcher, et qu’ensuite les choses s’arrangeraient I would simply start walking, then everything would sort
d’elles-mêmes. J’ai pris mon sac, je leur ai tourné le dos itself out. I took my bag, turned my back on them and
et je suis parti. left.
– Reviens le Rital ! a crié le Chef. ‘Come back, Greasehead!’ Gang Leader yelled.
Je m’éloignais et je devinais leur haine grandir As I walked away I could sense their hatred rising
derrière moi. Je les ai entendus sauter du muret. behind me. I heard them jump off the wall. Redhead let
Rouquin a attendu les deux autres pour emboîter leurs the other two go in front and followed close behind.
pas. It was then that I saw it. A lump of concrete that had
C’est alors que je l’ai vu. Un morceau de béton tombé fallen out of the corner of the wall, with a bit of rusty
du coin du mur, avec un bout de métal rouillé qui dépas- metal protruding. I bent down without turning around. IJoseph Incardona sait. Je me suis baissé sans me retourner. Je l’ai senti felt it in my hand, sharp and compact. An old worn-out dans ma main, coupant et compact. Un coin de mur usé corner piece that had come loose, that had been lying qui avait lâché, qui avait attendu tout ce temps que je le there all this time waiting for me to pick it up. ramasse. Ahead of me, the latecomers were running into the Plus loin, les retardataires couraient dans le préau playground, which was now emptying. The footsteps qui se vidait. Dans mon dos, les pas se sont faits hési- behind me faltered. I was walking along holding my tants. Je marchais en tenant serré mon caillou de chunk of concrete tightly, my hand turning white. béton, ma main devenait blanche. ‘We’ll be seeing you again, Greasehead’, said Gang – On se reverra, le Rital, a dit le Chef. Leader. J’ai continué en direction de l’école. La cloche s’est I carried on towards the school. The bell stopped tue. Le sang pulsait dans ma tête. Je n’entendais plus ringing. My blood was pulsing in my head. I couldn’t hear rien. a thing anymore. Tout autour, il n’y avait que du silence. All around was nothing but silence. * Nom péjoratif donné aux saisonniers étrangers qui venaient travailler en Suisse.
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