Thanks a lot for your response.
I will consider leaving prelude away, and dive into my own Emacs configuration. I am afraid of the time-consuming experience that it will be, but I hope it's worth it (and seeing the responses here, I definitely think it is).
I’m eternally in debt with people who made Emacs possible. Emacs taught me how to think, show me the «literate programming» that I love so much. This is why I’m currently frustrating.
But, you are totally right. Thanks for this important reminder that we have such a great tool for free, and with such freedom.