Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo departed this world by his own hand on June 22, 1937. To mark the occasion, a group of reading enthusiasts, modestly calling themselves the “Book Club,” decided to step out of their usual meeting room to follow in the footsteps of JJR (Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo) across Antananarivo. On this occasion, they were joined by other passionate individuals.
7:00 AM. The Antaninarenina Garden was chosen as the rallying point. Developed in 1910 during the colonial era, it was renamed Independence Square in 1960. Rohy Ariandro, aptly named, gathered her fellow readers. While waiting for latecomers, she checked that everyone present had received their badge—imprinted with the “red thread” of the hike—and a bottle of water. Leaflets containing excerpts from the poet’s works, to be recited along the way, were also distributed. Before the Independence stele, poet Niry Solosoa marked the first stop to immerse the audience in the stature of a man who left behind far more than just traces in Malagasy and Francophone literature. One can easily imagine, he said, Rabearivelo reading poems with his friends in this place he loved to frequent. 8:00 AM. The departure time arrived. The group, consisting of about forty enthusiasts, set off.
The group headed toward Isoraka. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, it was the European quarter, but also the district of the upper bourgeoisie. Jean-Joseph Rabearivelo was born there in a brick house, near the current Médiature, which was formerly Dr. Villette’s clinic. It was one of the most famous and very first private maternity clinics in Antananarivo. Rohy Ariandro read an excerpt from a two-page, undated, unfinished manuscript titled “Une vie” (A Life), where Rabearivelo recounts: “I was born one March evening, at 7 o’clock, in the heart of Iarive.” She then continued with these verses from the poem of the same name: “There will one day be a young poet, / who will fulfill your impossible wish, / for having known your books, rare as underground flowers…” The poet would return to this district in the final years of his life, explains Niry Solosoa. It was not uncommon to see him there drinking alcohol and smoking opium.
Then the group took the stairs opposite the Ambatonilita church to descend and wander through the maze of the Amboasarikely district. Following the death of his daughter Voahangy in November 1933, Rabearivelo’s family moved “into a small white house… near Antsahavola. He shut himself away in silence and drugs.” His health deteriorated. The Amboasarikely stairs lead to the beginning of a cobblestone street, slightly behind the Accès Bank. It is also at this location that the street bearing his name begins, extending to the end of the road passing in front of the former American embassy.
Two by two, the hikers were invited to read in silence excerpts from the sheets he wrote during his final hours: “June 22, 1937, at 9 minutes to 2 PM by my clock. I take 14 pills of 0.25 quinine to make my head feel very heavy… But already I smell the scent of dust and herbs; already I hear the call of my daughter… The effect of the quinine is beginning. Soon, in a glass, a little sweetened, more than ten grams of potassium cyanide… 3 PM minus 9 minutes. It is ringing, it is ringing. Close your eyes to see Voahangy and begin the silent farewells to dear living ones. Parents. Friends. It is three o’clock (fifteen). It is ringing, it is ringing. I have just turned off the light. I am going to turn off after drinking my glass. All my thoughts embrace my loved ones.”
Captured & Published at: 2026-06-22 06:31:10 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/06/randonnee-litteraire-le-club-de-lecture.html