Adventurous reading: my library

Alain Roman! The name alone sparks my imagination, like that of Surcouf who since my childhood has let me set sail without leaving the land.
Alain Roman and his wife were my teachers at the Lycée Charcot in Saint- Servan, and Surcouf was one of the heroes of my childhood. So, to write the preface of a book by Alain Roman dedicated to Robert Surcouf, what a responsibility! But maybe I’ll let myself be carried once more as I used to, revealing the roads that made me run towards the sea. Standing before the horizon, forever recreated, I would paint with my imagination this adventure that draws us in. This was all the easier for me as the house I had just left, that house on the hilltop at the heart of the town of Cancale, where I was born and which continues to “stir up” my dreams, had played host to the young Surcouf. His mother, Madame Surcouf, came here often to visit two young women who were friends and owned the house known as Bricourt at that time.

I’ve read books by Surcouf to my heart’s content, but this new biography takes the reader even further by re-establishing the truths that sometimes became lost in the legend. What made this possible? The proximity of the sites of course- sites that are most certainly haunted by the stories that were born and died here. Despite the destruction of Saint-Malo, the town has preserved a singular and unique link with its past. But proximity doesn’t explain everything. It takes work to put it right and to capture the essential elements that constitute a life. Alain Roman has a sizeable advantage over his predecessors in writing La saga des Surcouf. Mythes et réalités, which recounts the fascinating history of his ancestors. Like a sailor about to embark on a voyage, he planned his route before setting off. And yet, it’s hard to understand a man without knowing his ancestors, and Surcouf is no different than anyone else in this regard. Alain Roman understood this.

Extensive research and the emergence of new archives have equally allowed the author to present us with unseen deeds and documents, marvelling at the genius sailor of this tremendous privateer as is illustrated in the storming of Kent.
But hard facts aren’t enough to tell the story of a man’s life. You also need the dreams: the dreams that a man had, dreams of horizons that he was able to surpass to enlarge those of his contemporaries and his descendants. As well as a man, Surcouf is a character from a novel. I fail to mention a novel “by Roman,” but is this so false? One can’t be so sure. Surcouf belongs to him as he belongs to all of us. Like marvellous treasures that are more than gold coins or precious stones; but rather rice, coffee, indigo, sugar, spices, which tell the history of the world: our history.
SURCOUF! The two syllables whip like a bitter and powerful wind that can take us far, very far, to the gates of another world. Take a walk one winter morning under a stormy sky along the ramparts of Saint-Malo and you’ll feel this gust of wind from elsewhere, this adventure that shows in the piercing and contemplative eyes of this exceptional man. And so you understand that Surcouf is very much a character from a novel, a figure from our dreams, a person from our lives. Someone whose life is worth reading to better imagine the man.

Thank you Monsieur Roman, for when I read this book it took me back to your classroom, where you cultivated my taste for adventure, my thirst for new horizons and the pleasure of reading.

The book received wednesday October 15, 2008 a mention de l'Académie de Marine.