Novel
L'Enfer au paradis
Not translated into English
Ansomwin Ignace Hien · 1988
Synopsis
Tanga and his friends, failed pupils, leave their village, fascinated by the city where there is believed to be work and a life for everyone. In Ouagadougou, the urban adventure proves harsh: the promised jobs do not exist, and it is the world of delinquency, with its own laws, that welcomes them.
Context
The novel was printed at the author's expense in Ouagadougou in 1988, by Presses africaines: this was the ordinary route of Burkinabè publishing, where the writer paid for his print run. An Ivorian house, Edilis, took it up in 1996 in its Ardeurs tropicales series, one hundred and sixty-seven pages, which gave it a regional circulation. Its presentation there sees in it an exposition of the problem of rural exodus and of its consequences for young people.
Who it is for
In French. The narrative follows several boys at once and assumes the reader knows the topography of Ouagadougou, its districts, markets and police stations, which it names without describing.
Prizes and reception
First prize of the national grand prize for arts and letters in 1986, before its publication; the book made its author known, who was later awarded prizes for other novels.