Ambiguous Adventure by Cheikh Hamidou Kane: book review

Ambiguous Adventure (1962) is set in Senegal. Samba Diallo is a young boy studying at a Koranic school. His master Thierno is an ‘old, emaciated, withered and shrunken’ man. He treats Samba harshly, yet admires him for his intelligence. Demba, the oldest in the class, thinks Samba is ‘the strongest … but also the saddest’ in the group.

Samba is from an aristocratic family, the Diallobes. Samba’s father is a knight, with the air of a knight from the Middle Ages. His aunt, the Most Royal Lady, the sister of the Diallobe chief, is 60 years old, but looks forty. She is the one that seems to rule the countryside, as she is older than her brother and visits him daily to give him advice.

The Most Royal Lady and others in the community do not like the new foreign school: ‘The foreign school is the new form of war which those who have come here are waging.’ However, she recommends that parents send their children to the new French school. Samba Diallo goes to the new school and is in Monsieur N’Diaye’s class. And there he meets the Lacroix family, originally from Pau in the Basses-Pyrenees region of France. Jean and Georgette are in his class. Even Jean Lacroix ‘remembered perceiving this sadness’ in Samba.

In Part II, Samba is France, at the University of Paris, where he is studying philosophy. This is his ambiguous adventure. Initially excited to learn more about Western ways, he begins to feel disconnected from his faith. His thoughts turn inwards to reconnect with his true identity.

This short 178 page novel won the 1962 Grand Prix Litteraire de l’Afrique Noir. Brief and easy to read, its themes are transitional – from boyhood to adulthood, from one culture to another, and from strict religious beliefs to balancing work and faith.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

The acacia thorn trees of Kenya

There are nearly 800 species of acacia trees in the world, and most don’t have thorns. The famous "whistling thorn tree" and the Umbrella Thorn tree of Kenya are species of acacia that do have thorns, or spines. Giraffes and other herbivores normally eat thorny acacia foliage, but leave the whistling thorn alone. Usually spines are no deterrent to giraffes. Their long tongues are adapted to strip the leaves from the branches despite the thorns. The thorny acacia like dry and hot conditions. The thorns typically occur in pairs and are 5-8 centimetres (2-3 inches) long. Spines can be straight or curved depending on the species. MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Suda...

Hop on hop off bus tourism comes to Tbilisi, Georgia

City Sightseeing buses have arrived in Tbilisi. The iconic red double-decker buses, a feature of many cities around the world since the company was established in Seville, Spain in 1999, is now in six continents and almost 100 cities. The company established its Tbilisi business in November 2013, with its operations commencing in February 2014. The 90-minute tour stops at 11 major locations in Tbilisi (with 2 to 5 minute waiting times at each location): the Old City (where it commences), Freedom Square, Rose Revolution Square, Marjanishvili Square, the Dry Bridge, Konka, Avlabari, Metekhi, Akhundov Museum, the Sulfur Baths, and European Square. Passengers can hop off at any stop and see the sights, hopping back onto the next bus at any time. Alternatively, passengers can remain on the bus for the whole tour and take photographs when the bus stops at each location. There are one day (24-hour) passes (for 35 lari – about $20) and 48-hour passes for 55 lari, with family d...

The Knight in the Panther Skin by Shota Rustaveli (2015 translation): book review

The Knight in the Panther Skin (12th century, this edition 2015) is a recent translation by American poet and author, Lyn Coffin. The author, Shota Rustaveli, is Georgia’s most loved poet. This poem is mammoth, a magnum opus – it is 1,656 verses long, separated by chapters. But readers, don’t give up, because every verse is worth reading. It is akin to 1001 Arabian Knights, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, or Shakespearean poetry. King Rostevan of Arabia has a daughter, Tinatin. She loves the knight Avtandil and he loves her. Verse 368 from Avtandil: ‘The doctor’s could do nothing. A dark twilight on my heart now pressed, I was on fire because of love, but nobody knew or guessed. They blamed my blood. The king decided bleeding my arm would be best; I let it be done to hide the suffering I had not confessed.’ But a knight in panther skin is seen weeping, and subsequently kills the king’s soldiers, sparing the king. Before Tinatin weds Avtandil she r...

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog