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

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog