It becomes a bit tedious, Green Hills of Africa, by Ernest Hemingway, does, especially for a vegetarian. A lot of meat, a lot of gratuitous killing of animals for no reason. But the writing is as usual a master class in crispness. And several devices work well, POM for poor old momma. The trading of literary anecdotes. And the cast of characters is always interesting. Even more interesting for me is the arrogance of not speaking more than a few words of any of the local languages (including Swahili) but not hesitating to sketch characters and imagined backgrounds, projecting all kinds of biases onto the large retinue of servants, guides, trackers, hanger-ons, skinners, drivers, gun carriers, etc. It’s breathtaking. Someday a good Tanzanian writer will reverse the gaze.
-
Recent Posts
Archives
Categories
Friends of African Village Libraries (I post regularly here)- Daytime session at Sherigu Community Library
- La deuxième journée des activités de café littéraire à la bibliothèque de Boni
- Échanges avec la nouvelle gérante de la bibliothèque de Koho
- Reprise des activités de la bibliothèque mobile Pénélope
- Sortie de la Bibliothèque Mobile Pénélope à l’école Sainte Thérèse
- Bonne nouvelle pour les amoureux de la lecture à Niankorodougou
- Bibliothèque communautaire de Zimtenga ! Les livres attendent patiemment le retour des communautés
- Bilan des activités du mois d’août de la bibliothèque de Bougounam
- Bilan des premières journées du café littéraire
- Nyariga community library, daytime activities