Novel
La Camisole de paille
Not translated into English
Adamou Idé · 1987
Synopsis
Karimou and Fatou love each other, but in this Nigerien village where nothing grows any more, love is not enough to make a marriage: Karimou has nothing to offer, and Fatou's parents marry her off by force. Betrayed by her own people, the young woman flees the village and its traditions for the city, where she meets Oumou, a kind-hearted prostitute who tries to protect her from the traps of a world where money flows freely beside the blackest poverty.
Context
The book is its author's first novel; three years earlier he had made his name with a collection of poems issued from the same presses of the national printing house, in Niamey. He wrote in French and in Zarma, his mother tongue, and subsequently published in both languages, in Niamey as in Paris. The title remained unavailable for a long time before being taken up by a French publisher, who presented it as a young woman's fight for her freedom.
Who it is for
In French. Nothing is required to enter the narrative, except to know what a bride price means in a village where the harvest has failed.
Prizes and reception
First novel by an already distinguished poet, reissued in France nearly a quarter of a century after its publication in Niger and now a set text in the country's universities.