Novel
Caught in the Storm
Sous l'orage
Seydou Badian · 1957
Synopsis
In a town in French Sudan, Kany, the eldest daughter of old Benfa, goes to school and loves her schoolmate Samou. Without consulting her, her father has promised her to Famagan, a rich merchant who already has two wives. The household is divided: the eldest son, Sibiri, approves, while the younger ones are opposed. When Kany declares her refusal, Benfa sends her with her brother Birama to the village of the ancestors, to his own elder brother, Djigui, a hunter, on the other side of the river.
Context
Written in 1954 under the title Kany, the novel appeared in 1957, with a preface by Charles Camproux. Présence africaine then reissued it, together with a play in five scenes by the author that it published in 1962: this double volume was reissued in 1973, 1977 and 1992. Marie-Thérèse Noiset translated it into English in 1998 under the title Caught in the Storm, and a Bambara translation appeared in Bamako and Paris in 2018.
Who it is for
A short novel, in French; the stay in the village introduces the reader to the brotherhood of hunters and the healer.
Prizes and reception
Its author's first novel, published three years before independence; its American publisher reads it as an account of the tensions between generations.