Novel · A way to begin
Mayombe
Pepetela · 1980
Synopsis
In the Mayombe forest, in Cabinda province, during the war of independence, a group of guerrillas holds a base hidden beneath the trees. Under the command of Sem Medo, with the political commissar João and the mixed-race teacher Teoria, they fight foreign timber operators and prepare ambushes against the colonial army. Rivalries between Kikongo, Kimbundu and Cabindans, hunger and ideological quarrels undermine their unity, and an affair between André and Ondina, the commissar's fiancée, causes a scandal.
Context
Written during the years of guerrilla war, in 1970 and 1971 according to one biography, the novel appeared in Lisbon in 1980 from Edições 70, then in São Paulo in 1982. Michael Wolfers translated it into English for Heinemann in 1983; it also exists in Spanish and, since 2014, in Italian. The narrative, in six chapters, is told in the third person but at times gives the floor to guerrillas who speak for themselves. The book denounces the ethnic and racial divisions within the movement.
Who it is for
A novel in Portuguese, with several voices and characters referred to by their combat nicknames; no French translation.
Prizes and reception
Angola's national prize for literature in 1980, and counted among the most important books of its author.
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