Theatre
Monsieur Thôgô-gnini
Not translated into English
Bernard Dadié · 1970
Synopsis
In the middle of the nineteenth century, a white trader lands on a West African coast to open trade with the kingdom. He showers the king with flattery, and presents are exchanged. Thôgô-gnini, the sovereign's cane-bearer, becomes the newcomers' auxiliary, then strikes up dealings with Europe on his own account: his fortune grows as the people he claims to serve grow poorer.
Context
Subtitled a comedy, the play was published in Paris by Présence africaine in 1970, in the series devoted to theatre. In an interview given in 1997 to Ben Jukpor for the journal Mots pluriels, Dadié recalled that it had found its title only long after being written. The satire targets the man who, according to a line from the play, “fait le Blanc sur le dos des Nègres”; Mohamed Abd-Eltawab studied in 2022 this satirical tone and its effects on the reception of Dadié's theatre.
Who it is for
A comedy of a little over one hundred pages, in French; it is on the first-year syllabus in Senegal, according to baccalauréat revision sheets.
Prizes and reception
Reissued by Présence africaine in 1980, 1987 and 1990; the Artcena theatre dictionary sees in it a denunciation of the corruption of the African bourgeoisie.
Sources for this page 8
The pages consulted to check this page.