In reply to an article published in the Culture section in l?express dated 6 August 2007, ?Yago, y en a trop?. I have been clearly disappointed by the lack of focus Aline Groëme-Harmon demonstrated when analysing the newly published ?Honorable Yago?. My first reading of the satire had been a hasty one but still after two or three readings, I feel that the end is in fact a new beginning. Yet, the journalist failed to interpret the act as a momentary purification but instead says: ?C?est là le danger. Ecrire pour dire que tout est mauvais. Qu?il n?y a pas de rédemption possible?.? This analysis is a totally superficial one: it is not because the author avoids pointing out clearly to redemption that the notion is in fact absent.

Redemption here is seen in three complex forms. Firstly Yago, the man who earlier recoiled from any collective association implores for help. His god-like aura vanishes the moment he stumbles(...) His sins metaphorically flow through the blood and he is purged. Will he now be freed from his personal ambition? (...) The reader is meant to understand that the two bullets symbolize the death of the ambitious Yago and the erasure of existing sins (...)

Secondly, the disciple who engages in the shooting (...) performs the duty required from the civil society. By this, I don?t imply that we should all descend the streets and shoot all those who are under the abuse of power?else, there would be no politician left. The shooting is a crude way to bring back realism in the satire. There has been a culmination of heroism impersonated by Yago, but the end in brutal. His downfall represents the cost of restoring democracy(...)

Thirdly redemption basically is triggered by the ?prise de conscience?. Here it occurs through the disciple who defies authority in the form of Yago. He is a reflection of the leader in style (...) He rejects any further intellectual exploitation and decides to halt this form of societal prostitution. Regeneration occurs not only in the disciple but also in all those who had faith in the man. The essence of redemption is thus present.

Throughout the satire, many other symbolisms are majestically included to hint at the implications in the end. In Canto One (...) we already discern that the image Yago builds is not what he is in reality(...). The change in Yago?s appearance later suggests that the monster in him triggers his deification process. Yago hides under the guise of perfection until the spell wears off and the charm on the populace is broken.

?Honorable Yago? is also a way to denounce the immortal race of power-thirsty people, who under the guise of servility seek the populace?s destruction, the moment it serves their personal achievement. Excelling at making assurance of a better future for those left behind the socio-economic whirl, those men and women like Yago, in turn become victims of their own folly?

With a tinge of diversification in language and cultures, the author beautifully binds the pluricultural aspect of Mauritius. Pointing at the annihilation of any linguistic segregation, praises to Yago are made in different languages and specific religions. Alloying intertextuality, the complexity of humans and the possible access for salvation, "Honorable Yago" is nothing but a masterpiece.

<B>Elodie SAVETREE</B>