Suddenly, a roaring din rips through the twilight. When silence returns, a toad lies on the asphalt. Gathering his last strength, he carries his string of eggs to the saving waters of the pond – and from the only unharmed egg hatches an orphaned tadpole: Alyte is a survivor. Barely born, and already he has to fight to escape the birds, bears and other gods of the river world. Luckily, a salmon shows him how to use the currents and avoid the traps. This salmon is called Iode and is his first friend. Later, Alyte will meet a kid and an eagle; an owl, and finally Axon, the oldest tree in the forest. Each of them will tell him about the world in their own way, awakening him to its beauties. The time will soon come for Alyte to take care of a new string of eggs. Then, like his father before him, he will have to cross the lethalyte. That straight line that cuts through the forest and rumbles at the approach of animals. This black line that mows them down for no reason, against which the tiny Alyte has almost nothing to oppose except his immense thirst for life. After Le Discours de la panthère, Jérémie Moreau continues his exploration of the wild that lives alongside us, as close as it is invisible. Among the multitude of dramas played out there, he has chosen to portray the most fearsome: the confrontation with an absurd and blind human world, its deadly violence, aimlessness and disregard. With Alyte, Jérémie Moreau’s virtuoso writing invites readers to change their relationship with the living world and, like this valiant toad, join the resistance.
