At 18, Georges Eter weaves poetry, music, and sport into his life's 'mosaic'

L'Orient-Le Jour

3 days ago

At just 18, Georges Eter is a poet, athlete, and musician — winner of the Grand Prize for prose poetry from the Société des Poètes Français and top of his class in the French science baccalaureate at Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour.
He now debuts his first poetry collection with Antoine Bookstore Editions: a vivid mosaic of the human soul. He offers us a real journey of initiation that travels through the hazards of life, the lack of love, the search for meaning, and recovered hope.
"One is not serious when one is seventeen.'' Yet, the poems in ''Mosaic'' demonstrate a surprising maturity when it comes to the feelings and emotions that can cross the human soul. The poems, which alternate between prose, free verse, and strict alexandrines, read like a journey that moves from darkness to light, passing through the trial of a first love, questioning the meaning of life, and the way we view it through the prism of our emotions.
For the young poet, "life is full of oranges to peel" that one must have the courage to bite into, whether they are sweet or bitter, in order to live fully without anxiety or regrets. Because, as Albert Camus writes in ''The Fall,'' "the real horror of existence is not the fear of death, but the fear of life." And the intelligence of life shines in Eter's eyes as he seizes every opportunity that presents itself to him, as he "seizes the day"— and the oranges — to bite into life with all his might.
L'Orient-le Jour: You are publishing a first collection with rather dark themes: finitude, nothingness, death, fate, the "lack of love." So many feelings shared by humanity. But it's rare to experience them so intensely when young. Are these feelings you describe so acutely the result of a particular experience, a specific event in your life?
Georges Eter: Yes, the first poems of ''Mosaic'' are rather dark, "heavy and blue" as I like to call them. I wrote all the poems at seventeen, a year in which I experienced a love story that deeply marked me and where my emotions were very tangled. My sensitivity was very heightened.
The "heavy and blue" poems were therefore born from a need to express these emotions that were passing through me, a creative experience that did me a lot of good because it was unique and freeing. Then, long after writing them, I began to look anew at these pessimistically toned poems. I even considered deleting them because I found them very personal.
However, I ultimately kept them because they are what gives our humanity depth. They help shape our world and personalize our mosaics. It was therefore essential for me to keep and share with my readers my part of vulnerability to stay as close as possible to the complexity of the human soul.
L'Orient-le Jour: The storm gradually dissipates as one moves through the collection, and several cracks of light and hope open up. How did you conceive the structure of your collection?
Georges Eter: The structure of my collection is very symmetrical: it opens with a poem titled ''Darkness'' and ends with ''Light,'' two poems composed in alexandrines, for which I put a lot of work into the rhythm and rhymes.
In fact, the rhymes of ''Darkness'' are embraced, or rather I would say "imprisoned," to better express the oppressive feeling of melancholy. In the last poem, the rhymes are crossed to blend with the suppleness of a more open, less fixed feeling.
L'Orient-le Jour: As you write, life is a mosaic, a fresco, whose next piece or next touch we do not always know. But sometimes we might have an idea, even if only a vague one. You are 18. A pivotal year where we are asked to make an important life choice. What would be the next piece of your life's mosaic?
Georges Eter: I will continue the mosaic of my life at the Faculty of Medicine at USJ (University Saint-Joseph.) Since I was little, I've dreamed of becoming a doctor, of knowing how the body works, and of one day being able to save lives.
L'Orient-le Jour: Do you have any future literary projects in mind?
Georges Eter: Yes! And not only literary ones, but also musical. I play the piano, and sometimes I compose a few pieces in my spare time. My musical inspirations are as diverse and eclectic as my passions for medicine, mathematics, physics, and literature. I draw material for my compositions from the rigor of classical music, the jazz elegance of Laufey, and the pop of Harry Styles. I am always seeking new experiences to enrich, with various tones, the chiaroscuro of my mosaic!
*Georges Eter will sign his first collection 'Mosaic' on Wednesday, Aug.13, from 6 to 8 p.m., at the café of Antoine Bookstore at ABC, Achrafieh.