I take part in an olfactory and musical reading

I like to explore, to discover.

This was recently the case with Ode Maritime (The Maritime Ode in English), a poignant and dizzying text by Portuguese author Fernando Pessoa.

It was about to be the inspiration of a multi-sensory reading during the 2020 Night of Reading at the L'Inguimbertine Library-Museum in Carpentras (France).

I immersed myself in the story, completely. Its lively, accelerated and sharp style stung like sea salt. Its energy carried me on a chaotic inner journey. The elements were unleashed to the point of losing ground. The call of the open sea, this siren, which bewitches me.

The first reading left me exhausted, out of breath, disoriented by so many adventures and smells which brought so much realism to these lines.

I frantically noted down passages and words, noting olfactory sensations here and there.

“The joy of arriving, the sadness of leaving”

“Elsewhere already here and now in my head!”

How these words resonate within me, the traveler!

So many feelings, where to start?

This salty smell that takes hold of the nostrils, that floods and hypnotizes. This smell of ships, of wood and metal. This smell of summer morning: “The wind quivers. The morning rises in. The heat blooms.”

So many sensations to express: the omnipresence of this marine note which overwhelms, which drives one mad to the point of imagining heinous crimes, and the fleetingness of the ships which enter and leave the port, of the morning smell of the awakening gardens, of the quay before the noisy and thunderous arrival of these travelers who come and go.

The idea was to create a scent to accompany the captivating voice of Charlotte Assemat of the Compagnie du A, which instantly takes us away, accompanied by the sound punctuation of Jessica Tinkler, who subtly, with her violin and her voice, underlined the drama of thetext.

I am glad to take part of this first multi-sensory experience combining reading, music and smell for the L'Inguimbertine Library-Museum in Carpentras.

It was a delight to meet this book-loving audience who lent themselves with curiosity to such an experience.