tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post6268036339134350291..comments2024-01-02T15:37:04.858-05:00Comments on Caravana de recuerdos: Les bouts de bois de DieuRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-44775939585791395302014-10-16T21:37:25.249-04:002014-10-16T21:37:25.249-04:00It's a terrific novel, Séamus, not least becau...It's a terrific novel, Séamus, not least because it's full of fascinating scenes that are all too believable about the colonial experience (i.e. ones where the director of the rail line tells the strikers that their country owes everything to France; one of the Africans has to remind him that this is a dispute between workers and employers, not workers and France). Thanks for the info about <em>Strumpet City</em>, which I wasn't familiar with previously. Cheers!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-76614857489852798132014-10-14T17:39:15.928-04:002014-10-14T17:39:15.928-04:00This sounds good.It also sounds interesting as a p...This sounds good.It also sounds interesting as a potential source of inspiration for the Irish novel Strumpet City, which is also an ensemble novel dealing with a strike and colonialism, and also featuring a character who is eaten by rats, a scene which, in the TV adaptation, burnt itself into the memory banks of the country.Séamus Dugganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00574186409184247059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-1199947790817573362014-10-13T14:29:01.715-04:002014-10-13T14:29:01.715-04:00I never commented on the post, Tom, but I'm pr...I never commented on the post, Tom, but I'm pretty sure it was your ancient 2008 Senegalese reading list that inspired me to read this novel in the first place. Taking another glance at that post today, I see that your list is packed with lots of other good suggestions--thanks! How interesting to hear about that Bamako train station and to hear more about the language question being a feature of <em>The Black Docker</em>. I'll prob. read that novel or <em>Xala</em> next when I return to Ousmane/Sembene/Sembène, but in the meantime I think I'll try to track down one or two of his films if possible. This was an exciting introduction to the author for me and well worth the inadvertent wait.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-14601276323449728912014-10-13T10:22:51.942-04:002014-10-13T10:22:51.942-04:00Yes, this is a great one. You are right about the...Yes, this is a great one. You are right about the sense of place - I have been to the Bamako train station. In 2005 it still looked exactly as described in the novel, except the original clock had been replaced by what looked like, in Michael Palin's words (<i>Sahara</i>), a "kitchen clock."<br /><br />The language argument is extremely complicated, as you know. Honestly, what possible Wolof audience was there in 1960?<br /><br />His angry first novel actual deals with this question, come to think of it.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-73674038974029644222014-10-12T17:30:40.507-04:002014-10-12T17:30:40.507-04:00Miguel, I think your guess is plausible and not at...Miguel, I think your guess is plausible and not at all cynical. Chinua Achebe, Camara Laye, and Ngugi wa Thiong'o among others all did similar things at least at the outsets of their careers. However, it's my understanding that Sembene later started writing and/or filming in Wolof just like Ngugi later switched to Gikuyu. If that's correct, I'd like to read up on the matter and see what motivated the change. For me, the implications concerning whom the author would want to read his/her novel when choosing to write (or not write) in a "linguistic ghetto" are more interesting than usual in anti-colonial texts like Sembene's.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-30273563887521025332014-10-12T10:01:23.265-04:002014-10-12T10:01:23.265-04:00At the risk of sounding cynic, I'd say he used...At the risk of sounding cynic, I'd say he used French to break out of the linguistic ghetto he'd be confined in if he had used an African language, reach more readers, get translated and probably make more money that way. LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.com