Narrative
Prisonnier de Tombalbaye
Not translated into English
Antoine Bangui · 1980
Synopsis
A former member of President Tombalbaye's government, the author falls out of favour and spends three years in detention, from 1972 to 1975. Written during this captivity, his testimony recounts years marked by torture, and shows how a power born of independence drifted into dictatorship. It is also an insider's view of the political history of the first years of independent Chad, and of the shattered illusions of independence.
Context
The book appeared in 1980 from Hatier, in the Monde noir series, co-published in Abidjan and Kinshasa, in one hundred and fifty-nine pages; a reissue is dated 1989. In 1983 the author followed it with an autobiographical novel about the Gor country, his land of origin. Histories of Chadian literature rank it among the works of the country's recognised autobiographers, and the author went on writing about Chadian political life throughout his life.
Who it is for
A short testimony, in French; it can be read without knowing anything about Chad, but detention and torture are described in it.
Prizes and reception
When its author died, in 2026, the Chadian press still regarded it as a dense and unvarnished testimony to the brutality of postcolonial regimes.