By Mariama Ba
Written via award-winning African novelist Mariama Ba and translated from the unique French, So lengthy a Letter has been famous as considered one of Africa's a hundred most sensible Books of the twentieth Century. The short narrative, written as a longer letter, is a series of reminiscences—some wistful, a few bitter—recounted through lately widowed Senegalese schoolteacher Ramatoulaye Fall. Addressed to a lifelong pal, Aissatou, it's a checklist of Ramatoulaye's emotional fight for survival after her husband betrayed their marriage via taking a moment spouse. This semi-autobiographical account is a perceptive testimony to the plight of expert and articulate Muslim girls. Angered through the traditions that permit polygyny, they inhabit a social milieu ruled via attitudes and values that deny them prestige equivalent to males. Ramatoulaye hopes for a global the place the simplest of previous customs and new freedom should be mixed.
Considered a vintage of up to date African women's literature, So lengthy a Letter is a must-read for someone drawn to African literature and the passage from colonialism to modernism in a Muslim country.
Winner of the celebrated Noma Award for Publishing in Africa.
Titles of similar curiosity from Waveland Press: Beti (trans. Moore), The negative Christ of Bomba (ISBN 9781577664185); Emecheta, Kehinde (ISBN 9781577664192); Equiano (ed. Edwards), Equiano's Travels (ISBN 9781577664871); los angeles Guma, In the Fog of the Seasons' End (ISBN 9781478600251); Marechera, The residence of Hunger (ISBN 9781478604730); and Oyono (trans. Reed), Houseboy (ISBN 9781577669883).
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Sample text
I ask myself questions. The truth is that, despite everything, I remain faithful to the love of my youth. Aissatou, I cry for Modou, and I can do nothing about it. [Page 57 ] 18 Yesterday I celebrated, as is the custom, the fortieth day of Modou's death. I have forgiven him. May God hear the prayer I say for him every day. I celebrated the fortieth day in meditation. The initiated read the Koran. Their fervent voices rose towards heaven. Modou Fall, may God accept you among his chosen few. After going through the motions of piety, Tamsir came and sat in my bedroom in the blue armchair that used to be your favourite.
My daughter Daba, who was preparing for her baccalauréat , often brought some of her classmates home with her. Most of the time it was the same young girl, a bit shy, frail, made noticeably uncomfortable by our style of life. But she was really beautiful in this her adolescent period, in her faded but clean clothes! Her beauty shone, pure. Her shapely contours could not but be noticed. I sometimes noticed that Modou was interested in the pair. Neither was I worried when I heard him suggest that he should take Binetou home in the car---'because it was getting late,' he would say.
I adopted a sprightly tone to rouse my battalion. The coffee warmed the atmosphere, exuding its sweet fragrance. Foaming baths, mutual teasing and laughter. A new day and increased efforts! A new day, and waiting. Waiting for what? It would not be easy to get my children to accept a new masculine presence. Having condemned their father, could they be tolerant towards another man? Besides, what man would have the courage to face twelve pairs of hostile eyes, which openly tear you apart? Waiting!
