Republic of the Congo / All works
Novel
Blue White Red
Bleu-Blanc-Rouge
Alain Mabanckou · 1998
Synopsis
In Pointe-Noire, Massala-Massala, who has left his studies to grow groundnuts, sees Charles Moki, the “Parisian”, come back every dry season: his return is celebrated, people listen to his stories told in the French of France, his gifts and his money change his family's life, and his own father takes to wearing Parisian suits. Moki convinces the narrator that he has the head for Paris; the narrator obtains a visa and a passport, while Adeline tells him she is pregnant. In Paris, lodged in a building slated for demolition, he discovers the world of the illegal immigrants who surround Moki.
Context
The first novel by its author, until then a poet, the book appeared in 1998 from Présence africaine, in four parts, “Ouverture”, “Le Pays”, “Paris” and “Fermeture”. It makes the sape, the Congolese cult of elegance, a driving force of the narrative, and depicts the country of departure as much as the host country, as the studies by Lydie Moudileno and Jean-Michel Devésa note. Reissued in 2010, it was translated into English by Alison Dundy for Indiana University Press in 2013.
Who it is for
A novel of a little over two hundred pages in French, with a non-chronological narrative. It is better to know what the sape is, the passion of young Congolese for designer clothes.
Prizes and reception
Grand Prix littéraire d'Afrique noire 1999 according to its American publisher, although the official list of laureates does not include it.
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