Watan-The journalist Gwinel Lenoir attempted to delve into the mind of the Syrian Caesar, the military photographer who risked everything to reveal to the world the images of bodies that had been tortured in the prisons of the Assad regime, in order to write a cohesive and impactful novel. The internal dialogue is filled with the scent of death, silence, courage, and cowardice.
In a report published on the orientxxi website, journalist Lina Chatel pointed out that the main character of the novel is a Syrian photographer who is currently hiding somewhere in Europe, using the pseudonym “Caesar.” The horrors described in the novel are documented, and the facts are verified, but “his voice is my voice, the voice of a man infiltrated by doubt.”
The novel narrates that four small bodies were waiting in the drawers one morning, then they became six, then twelve, then fifteen. Soon there was no space left in the drawers, and the tortured bodies quickly piled up on the tiles of the corridors and in the rusty trucks parked in the drawers. In front of the door. At night, nightmares begin, and the consciousness of the photographer, who later adopts the name “Caesar,” awakens.
As months and weeks pass, evidence accumulates on the photographer’s memory card. Caesar had to risk everything to smuggle it out before leaving the country, despite the danger of finding himself on the other side of the lens, a tortured corpse causing horror and astonishment in a moment of fear and terror.
A Memory Full of Blood
The source adds that Gwinel Lenoir only knew what everyone knew about Caesar, that he was a military photographer who fled to forensic medicine. However, when she discovered his story in 2014, she knew she wanted to write about what seemed like a big deal.
How he managed to stay for two years inside Syria with a memory full of blood, the scent of death, and the horrors of torture.
Imposing Fear and Silence
The book “The Black Room” aims to be a tribute to the strength and courage of all defectors like Caesar, and to those for whom the revolution became a quiet conviction, turning their backs to a regime that imposed fear and silence. “The dead must speak because we, the living, cannot. They silenced our fathers. Our fathers silenced us, and we, in turn, silence our children.”
In addition to being a powerful work and a fundamental document for those who do not know Caesar’s story, according to the website’s report, this novel is a vibrant call to disobedience, allowing you to imagine what it means to live under the rule of a comprehensive system and explore a range of emotions, from the tenderness of intimate relationships to the constant anxiety in the streets and cafes.
To write this novel and immerse herself in the daily life of the photographer Caesar, Gwinel Lenoir recalled her readings, films, and personal experiences, citing “The Shell” by Mustafa Khalifa and all the encounters that marked her.
A Glimmer of Light
The novel “The Black Room” is an opportunity to revisit fictional or realistic works inspired by an indescribable reality. Like many works, it was born out of a desperate desire to speak and write.
The report concludes that the time has come to read these works that attempt to bring this revolution out of the depths of oblivion and lift the victims from the abyss, where hopes accumulate in the common grave of our humanity. “The Black Room,” despite its name, is an additional glimmer of light in this natural scene.