LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD · LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A masterful coming-of-age novel and a gripping investigation into the life of a mysterious author who disappeared without a trace, by the first writer from sub-Saharan Africa to be awarded France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt. Paris, 2018. Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer, discovers a legendary book published in 1938 titled The Maze of Inhumanity. No one knows what happened to the author, T.C. Elimane, once referred to as the “Black Rimbaud.” After he was accused of plagiarism, his reputation... continue
Une si longue lettre est une œuvre majeure, pour ce qu'elle dit de la condition des femmes. Au cœur de ce roman, la lettre que l'une d'elle, Ramatoulaye, adresse à sa meilleure amie, pendant la réclusion traditionnelle qui suit son veuvage. Elle y évoque leurs souvenirs heureux d'étudiantes impatientes de changer le monde, et cet espoir suscité par les Indépendances. Mais elle rappelle aussi les mariages forcés, l'absence de droits des femmes. Et tandis que sa belle-famille vient prestement reprendre les affaires du défunt, Ramatoulaye évoque alors avec douleur le jour où son mari prit une sec... continue
"Ousmane's satirical fable tells of the downfall of El Hadji, a member of the African elite who have taken the place of white businessmen in Francophone Africa. The protagonist is stricken with xala--impotence--in a racous bedrroom scene with his new young wife. The novel subtly traces the interplay among his three wives as El Hadji desperately tries to over come the affliction. In his obsession he resorts to primitive incantation, and his unscrupulous business associates cynically reject their former friend."--Cover