Novel
Akossiwa, mon amour
Not translated into English
Victor Aladji · 1971
Synopsis
Féli returns to his native village on the eve of leaving for Ouagadougou, where he has found work, and remembers his childhood among the fields and forests. As a child he lived with an aunt, in another village, and got to know Akossiwa there; ten years later, during a visit before his departure, he falls in love with her. But marriage, in the village, is a matter for two families more than for two people, and the young couple must reckon with parents, society and traditions in order to make a home.
Context
The story appeared in 1971 in Yaoundé, from CLE, in the Pour tous series; CLE reissued it in 2010, then in 2015 in co-edition with the Nouvelles Éditions numériques africaines. It has four chapters: memories of the village fill the first two, the idyll the third, which is the longest, and the last turns to reflections on political power and modernity. Studded with Ewe words often left untranslated, the text is addressed first to Togolese readers; the first name in the title is given among the Ewe to girls born on a Sunday.
Who it is for
A brief narrative, in French mixed with Ewe; it is as much a village portrait as a love story.
Prizes and reception
Its author's best-known work, reissued in 2010 and in 2015; reread by a Togolese critic, who praises its local colour more than its writing.
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