Novel · A way to begin
Agatha Moudio's Son
Le Fils d'Agatha Moudio
Francis Bebey · 1968
Synopsis
On the outskirts of Douala, Mbenda tells his own story. He loves Agatha Moudio, a free young woman whom the village rejects and whom his mother, Maa Médi, does not want for him. His parents nevertheless negotiate his marriage to little Fanny, raised according to custom, and the clan goes to the girl's family. Agatha, learning of it, comes to smash the crockery at his home; around the village fountain, gossip does the rest, and Mbenda finds himself torn between what tradition expects of him and what he desires.
Context
The author's first novel, the book appeared in 1967 and went into a second edition as early as 1968 with Éditions CLE of Yaoundé, which then reprinted it up to a tenth edition in 1989. The narrative rests entirely on the voice of its narrator, whose ironic, at times cynical humour keeps the reader at a distance: the academic Thérèse Tsafack-Soumélé reads it as a novel of ambiguity, which criticises a bride price turned into haggling in a society ill prepared for money. Translated into English by Joyce A. Hutchinson as Agatha Moudio's Son, it was published in New York in 1973.
Who it is for
In French, a short novel told with humour. It helps to know that among the Douala the family negotiates the marriage and that the bride price is paid there.
Prizes and reception
Grand Prix littéraire d'Afrique noire in 1968. English-language critics have hailed it as a carefully constructed burlesque masterpiece.
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