Novels from Central African Writers
Introduction Alain Mabanckou’s novel African Psycho, published in its English translation in 2007, represents a landmark achievement in postcolonial African literature. Moving away from the conventional thematic preoccupations of anti-colonial resistance or cultural nationalism, Mabanckou delivers a dark, satirical, and deeply ironic subversion of the Western true-crime and serial-killer genres. Critics have noted that the …
Africa39: New Writing from Africa South of the Sahara is a landmark literary anthology published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Curated under the auspices of the Hay Festival and in celebration of Port Harcourt’s selection as the UNESCO World Book Capital 2014, the collection brings together thirty-nine of the most promising and distinctive writers …
Dealing with the Dead by Alain Mabanckou Liwa Ekimakingaï, the protagonist of the narrative, experiences the startling sensation of a “new life” beginning exactly one hour after a violent shock rips through the earth, leaving him lying upon a fresh mound of soil topped with a brand-new wooden cross. He initially believes he is breathing …
José Eduardo Agualusa’s A General Theory of Oblivion is a complex, polyphonic narrative that spans thirty years of Angolan history, centered on the extraordinary life of Ludovica Fernandes Mano (Ludo), a Portuguese woman who bricks herself into her Luanda apartment on the eve of independence in 1975 and remains there for twenty-eight years. The novel …