Set in a fictitious African nation, this novel by the distinguished writer Sony Labou Tansi takes aim at the corruption, degeneracy, violence, and repression of political life in Africa. At the heart of The Shameful State is the story of Colonel Martillimi Lopez, the nation’s president, whose eccentricity and whims epitomize the "shameful situation in which humanity has elected to live." Lopez stages a series of grotesque and barbaric events while his nation falls apart. Unable to resist the dictator’s will, his desperate citizens are left with nothing but humiliation. The evocation of this deranged world is a showcase for the linguistic and stylistic inventiveness that are the hallmark of Sony Labou Tansi’s work. This first English translation by Dominic Thomas includes a foreword by Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou that contextualizes the novel’s importance in literary history and the significance of Sony Labou Tansi for future generations of writers.

The Shameful State (Global African Voices)

Literature & Fiction

Sony Labou Tansi

United States

Indiana University Press

Life and a Half: A Novel (Global African Voices)

Listed as one of the 100 best books on Africa, Life and a Half was Sony Labou Tansi’s response to the death of close friends during a bloody military and political crackdown in Congo. The novel takes place in an imaginary African country run by the latest in a series of cannibalistic dictators who has captured Martial, the leader of the opposition, and his family. Though shot, knifed, butchered, and bled, Martial’s spirit lives on to guide his followers in their fight against the dictators. Facing censorship, Tansi insisted that his book was a fable and that if he were ever given the opportunity to write about real events, he would be much more direct rather than follow the torturous paths of a novel. This crisp translation by Alison Dundy maintains the fast-paced action and bitingly satiric tone of the original.

Contemporary

Listed as one of the 100 best books on Africa, Life and a Half was Sony Labou Tansi’s response to the death of close friends during a bloody military and political crackdown in Congo. The novel takes place in an imaginary African country run by the latest in a series of cannibalistic dictators who has captured Martial, the leader of the opposition, and his family. Though shot, knifed, butchered, and bled, Martial’s spirit lives on to guide his followers in their fight against the dictators. Facing censorship, Tansi insisted that his book was a fable and that if he were ever given the opportunity to write about real events, he would be much more direct rather than follow the torturous paths of a novel. This crisp translation by Alison Dundy maintains the fast-paced action and bitingly satiric tone of the original.

Vie et demie (la)

POINTS

Les Sept solitudes de Lorsa Lopez

SEUIL

La Parenthèse de sang La Parenthèse de sang : les reîtres d'un gouvernement totalitaire recherchent Libertashio le rebelle et refusent de croire à l'évidence de sa mort. Dans un climat de fin du monde, les soudards s'entre-tuent et martyrisent avec une logique absurde la famille du héros mort. Je soussigné cardiaque : Mallot, un instituteur, a le malheur d'avoir une conception personnelle de la liberté et du respect de soi-même... Cette attitude peu commune le conduira jusqu'au poteau d'exécution.

La parenthèse du sang (French Edition)

Essays & Correspondence

HATIER INTERN

Sony Labou Tansi: L'autre Monde Ecrits Inedits

History

Europe

Editions Revue Noire

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Books by Sony Labou Tansi