Short stories
L'Arbre fétiche
Not translated into English
Jean Pliya · 1971
Synopsis
The collection brings together four short stories: L'Arbre fétiche, La Voiture rouge, L'homme qui avait tout donné and Le Gardien de nuit. In the first, prisoners led along a winding path fear they will be made to fell an iroko, a fetish tree said to be watched over by a serpent and capable of taking revenge; old Mêhou pleads for it to be spared, and they obtain a reprieve from Mr Lanta. It is then the woodcutter Dossou, who believes only in the Supreme God but guards against sorcerers, who attacks the tree, under the appalled gaze of Cossi.
Context
The title story won its author the first prize for the best African short story in 1963, and then appeared in the French journal Preuves before opening this volume published in Yaoundé by the éditions Clé. The academic Hyacinthe Ouingnon reads in it, beyond the opposition between tradition and modernity, a fiction close to the fantastic in which occult forces have the lion's share, which is surprising in a fervent Catholic; the text gives room to the gods of vodun, Tolègba or Hêviosso. The ninety-page collection was reprinted in 1977.
Who it is for
For those who like brief short stories in which doubt hangs between the supernatural and a human explanation.
Prizes and reception
His title story, awarded a prize in 1963, made the author known well before his plays and public offices.
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