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IN BRIEF
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In her moving and introspective work entitled “Never Arrive”, writer Béatrice Commengé invites us to question the very nature of travel. She navigates through her own childhood memories, as well as through dreams of idealized destinations. Throughout the pages, a work and a two-voiced narrative emerge, blending personal stories and reflections on the notion of destination and life paths. This poignant text prompts us to ask: is travel truly synonymous with arrival?
The nostalgia of homelands
Daughter of pieds-noirs, Béatrice Commengé delicately evokes the pain of having been uprooted from her homeland. Her narrative unfolds between Europe and Africa, and each return to her family cradle is a promise of buried memories and evocative landscapes. She crosses the Mediterranean several times, a symbolic and material journey, sometimes rediscovered, sometimes apprehensive in the face of the distance separating her past from her present. This identity quest is rooted in a deep wish: to reconnect with what has been lost.
A premeditated journey: the Insula Ovidiu
From the very first pages, the reader is transported alongside the author in her meticulous preparation for a journey to the Insula Ovidiu, the island of Ovid. From an initial project planned for March 2020, Commengé nurtures an allusion to literature and myth, wishing to honor the memory of this exiled writer. The idea of arriving on March 20, the anniversary of Ovid, transforms into a metaphor for the desire for fulfillment and connection to history. However, reality bursts in with unsettling intensity, confronting the imaginary with the tangible.
The tension between destination and journey
In her narrative, Commengé explores the tension that exists between the long-anticipated destination and the journey itself. What dances between these two poles is a parallel between the physical and the psychological. The journey, far from being a simple straight line leading to a port, becomes a series of enriching detours and discoveries. She reminds us that, often, what matters is not the end of the journey, but all that we experience during this crossing. Commengé creates a narrative where stops and encounters mark the path of a deeper meaning than merely arriving safely.
From dream to reality: the shadow of uncertainty
Travel stories often exhale a scent of unfinished dreams. Béatrice Commengé is no exception. As the details of her journey take shape, she encounters the contingencies of the world around her, the friction of reality shattering the idealization of her trip. Covid-19 and the pandemic force her to redefine her expectations, to reflect on the very nature of what she hoped to find on the Insula Ovidiu. Each stage of the journey becomes a redefinition of her aspirations and an acceptance of the unforeseen. How can one then be satisfied with a search for identity marked by the impossibility of arriving?
The book as a desire for escape
Béatrice Commengé’s pen weaves a literary and biographical narrative, filled with tenderness and melancholy. “Never Arrive” does not simply boil down to a search for destination; it is also an invitation to consider the book as a space for escape and reflection. Through reading, travel acquires a literary dimension where the reader themselves is invited to project, to dream. Commengé’s work reminds us that journeys, whether real or imaginary, have their own inner horizons, thus freeing thoughts, memories, and emotions.
Inviting conclusion for reflection
The richness of travel perhaps lies in the multitude of paths taken. While questioning the importance of arrival, Béatrice Commengé urges us to consider the stratifications of each step, a subtle blend between self-exploration and discovery of the world. Thus, the notion of destination, even when it seems elusive, becomes an echo of the similarities between our stories and those of others, an endless search for meaning beyond the shores. We carry with us, like an ephemeral memory, the idea that the richest journeys are those that transcend the mere notion of arrival.
