Literary return. Seven foreign novels not to be missed

An unvarnished Nigeria

Chronicles of the country of the happiest people in the world
by Wole Soyinka

Ed. The Threshold, 512 p. ; €26.90.

Collections of poems, essays, plays, remarkable autobiography including the very beautiful first volume Aké, the years of childhood , the work of Wole Soyinka abounds. And yet, at 89 years old, the Nigerian playwright and poet, Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1986, had only written two novels: The interpreters (1965), a satire on Nigerian society, and A season of anomie (1973), on the Biafran War. It took him fifty years to publish this third opus, written according to him “to relieve boredom during Covid”. And he did well! These chronicles with corrosive humor and demanding writing paint a realistic picture of the situation in his country, the most populous in Africa with nearly 223 million inhabitants. Corrupt politicians, religious charlatans, social parasites interact throughout an intrigue woven from alleged human organ trafficking. Papa D, central character, a sort of oracle, provides possible solutions to the other protagonists, all immersed in almost inextricable situations.

Eyoum Nganguè
Our opinion: PP