Far from being omnivorous when it comes to reading, I still do have a habit of reading many books at the same time. This page randomly reflects on the ever-growing pile of books on my desk and next to my bed.

June 2008 

For quite a long time now I have been trying to get hold of the following novel by Mamadou Samb:

De pulpe et d’orange: Autobiographie d’une prostituée dans une ville ouest-africaine
(Enda-Editions, 1990)

It appears to be too hard even for Amazon.fr to find it. I placed an order months ago and they keep coming back with a mail saying that they are still looking for it. If you happen to have a copy of this book or know where I could find it, please come forward and help the reader in distress!

 

February 2008 

 L’Histoire du fauteil qui s’amouracha d’une âme and L’Errance de Sidiki Bâ by Mamadou Mahmoud N’Dongo. These are his first two books, unfortunately not yet available in English. Both of these make a refreshingly different reading experience, and especially the memories of Sidiki bâ, a former combatant in the 2nd World War, had a powerful impact on me. Long time ago I read La Route des Flandres by Claude Simon and as a result I had war dreams for a long time, and now with this book it is happening again. N’Dongo is also a film maker and simply even the choise of one of the titles, Le Mangeur d’hélium (the helium eater) makes me want see it. This strange figure appears also in Sidiki Bâ’s memories. As of yet, I have not been able to get hold of any his short films, but I’m working on it!

November 2007 

The White Man’s Burden by William Easterly. At last I have a copy of this book, I tried to get hold of it already in October but could not find it. Just the other day I had an appointment and I was too early so I stepped in to Sterling Books to keep warm and kill time and there it was! A few comments on this excellent book in my today’s post called amaretch - a snapshot.

Orphée d’Afrique by Werewere Liking. A very dear friend of mine recommended this book and I am quite enjoying the novel, or should I say théâtre-rituel? I am very fond of the dream-like and somewhat disturbing story, it’s an excellent introduction to the famous Cameroonian writer’s work.

October 2007 

Writing Madness by Flora Veit-Wild. In my work I’m interested in the conflict between duty to custom or tradition and repressed inner desires, and this scholarly work may give some fresh insights to how some writers express this conflict. One particular chapter in this book is of great interest: Black Hamlet - Engaging With The African Healer looks at the work of Wulf Sachs, the South African doctor, who undertook psychoanalysis with John Chavafambira, a traditional healer from Manyikaland. Mental note: Get a copy of Achebe’s short story The Madman.

Bridge Road by Mamadou-Mahmoud N’Dongo. I’ve only just placed an order and this book is on its way. November update: This novel was a hard nut to crack because of its very fragmented style. It was as if I were reading short cinematographic snapshots of situations and pieces of memories, interviews, dialogues, monologues… a kind of puzzle that slowly but very effectively start to form a clearer picture of the emerging gruesome racial hatred and violence in the story.  

August 2007

My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk. Some time ago I read his Istanbul because the city is high in my list of favorite cities (and for the record: so are Dakar, Damascus, Accra, Addis Ababa and possibly Cairo, which I still have not even seen!) and now I bought My Name Is Read for travel reading but I could not wait until the trip… I started the novel already and the story looks very very promising. I like the looks of this paperback edition and the fact that the chapters are short and give the impression of multiple fragmented voices helped me make the decision. These are elements that I very much enjoy in a novel, I actually prefer compact stories rather than the Karamazovian or Proustian massiveness.

Rue Félix Faure by Ken Bugul. Well, this time the city is Dakar and this novel (or should I admit this in public: the photocopy of the book) has been drifting in the apartment for almost two years before I finally finished reading it. I will write a separate post on this a bit later. Ken Bugul is one of my very favorite (Senegalese) writers.

July 2007

A Saint in the City. Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal by Allen F. Roberts and Mary Nooter Roberts, with Gassia Armenian and Ousmane Gueye. Finally I have a copy of my own of this beautiful book! Anyone who has been to Senegal knows how powerful a role the visual has in the Mouride community. 

When the World Began by Elisabeth Laird.  I have actually borrowed this book from a friend of mine. These stories of cunning animals and ancient kings have been collected in Ethiopia. I was about to say it’s a children’s book but I think this is very nice reading to anyone really. I only wonder how big part of the stories that for decades and centuries were told from one generation to another have already died because they were not written down.

Aujourd’hui au Sénégal by Fabrice Hervieu-Wane, Aurélia Fronty, Florent Silloray. This book is one of the Gallimard Jeunesse series in which the authors have combined a story in a diary format with nice illustrations and encyclopedic elements, the topic here being of course Senegal and the Senegalese history and customs. The story is told from the viewpoint of a twelve-year-old boy named Bocar and his diary is indeed very informative, from how to use alternative energy sources like solar power, to how the wives manage to keep their husbands from running after other women, to what the holy month of Ramadan means to a small boy. There’s one thing that bothers me though, namely the “French lense” through which some of the stories or topics are perceived. The book is written with good intensions - and of course with French money and French distribution channels. The two countries have a common past, true, but does it really have to be underlined in such a pretentious way? It’s almost as if the publisher were trying to ease the young French readers’ minds to the fact that Senegal was colonized by the French.

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Have just started this novel on the Nigeria-Biafra war - it’s a page-turner. The author, who also wrote Purple Hibiscus (still on my “to be read later” list) has a very good web site here.

Contes wolof du Baol collected by Jean Copans and Philippe Couty. Stories from Senegal, translated from Wolof into French.

 

Some links

african writing online

Examples of contemporary voices in African literature 50 years after Things Fall Apart: the new inheritors

                

Brill Online gives access to Encyclopaedia Islamicus (requires a subscription or an active Athens account)

 

”No-one can question or interfere with the silent interaction between the reader and the book. That is why dictators and tyrants hate literature: the secret democracy of reading is too strong for them to withstand.” (Phillip Pullman)