Republic of the Congo / All works
Novel
Life and a Half
La Vie et demie
Sony Labou Tansi · 1979
Synopsis
In Katamalanasia, an imaginary country in Africa, the Providential Guide celebrates with a banquet his victory over Martial, the opposition leader, who was put to death before the eyes of his wife and children, who are then forced to eat his body. But Martial refuses to die: his ghost returns to haunt the tyrants and marks their faces with a black spot. His daughter Chaïdana, the only survivor of the family, takes the lead of the rebellion against a dynasty of providential guides who succeed one another identically.
Context
The novel was published by Le Seuil in 1979; the author then took the pseudonym Sony Labou Tansi, in homage to the poet Tchicaya U Tam'si. A warning presents it as a fable about “the absurdity of the absurd”. French critics judged it Rabelaisian and compared it to García Márquez, and Alain Mabanckou ranks it among the three great African novels, with those of Ouologuem and Kourouma. It is available in paperback from Points, and Alison Dundy translated it into English in 2011 as Life and a Half.
Who it is for
A short, violent novel in a teeming language; scenes of torture and cannibalism from the very first pages.
Prizes and reception
Described as a literary UFO when it appeared, it is now regarded as a classic of African literature.