The Shadow of the Sun: My African Life (1998, 2001 in English) by Polish newspaper reporter and journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932-2007) takes the reader on a journey through a large part of Africa, from east to west, and north as far as Sudan and south as far as Tanzania. The novel is about his experiences, thoughts, insights, and adventures during his reporting years when he was based in Africa, intermittently from 1957, but often for long periods of time. Interspersed with his views of Africa, is a historical account of kings, politics, elections, conflicts, and the genocide in Rwanda.
Each
chapter is a tale from a region, a city, a drive, or – for the most part – his
waiting. He begins his tales in Ghana in 1958 and zigzags across the country –
Tanganyika (now Tanzania), Uganda in 1960, Kenya, Nigeria in 1966, Mauritania,
Ethiopia (Lalibela), Uganda (Karimajong), Rwanda, Sudan, Somalia, Senegal,
Ethiopia (Gondar), Liberia, Cameroon, Mali, Nigeria (Onitsha), and Eritrea. He
finishes in Wollega.
The
tales are fascinating, interesting, evocative, and descriptive - externally from
landscapes of bustling cities to refugee camps and remote isolated villages - and
internally from kitchens to government offices. In parts it is whimsical and
dreamy, and in other parts it is serious and didactic, yet always informative.
It
is his flexible, easy style that is most impressive: “It is the girls who rise
first in the village of Abdallah Wallo and go for water even before the sun is
up. This is a fortunate village: water is nearby.” Or “The sight of the sun
acts like a starter’s pistol: the town instantly springs to motion.” And his
short sentences.
With
most tales, it is never really clear when he was in that location, and often
the history is blurred with the actual time of his visit. The structure of the
novel is almost chronological, but criss-crosses back and forth across a vast
continent, so it is loosely organized – and if a reader is looking to dip in
and read a tale at a time, the chapter titles seldom reveal the destination, making it a lucky-dip. For example, the chapter called The Well doesn't tell you in the title that it's about Somalia. With no list of contents, which chapter is about Mali? Who knows?
While
critics describe The Shadow of the Sun as reportage or history, it is neither,
and it is both, but spasmodically, fitfully, and sporadically. It is literary
reportage with a personal disposition.
Comments
Post a Comment