Mariama Bâ
Another book I happened to pull off the living room bookshelf to occupy my long commutes to school while living in Paris . Une si longue lettre is written as a letter from one woman, recently widowed, to her friend now living in the United States. The women both married men who became successful and took second wives. Much of the novel centres on the different paths each woman takes in reaction to the betrayal of their husband.
The novel illustrates the challenges women faced in post-colonial Africa as it rapidly modernises. Both the protagonist letter-writer and her friend represent women of the “New Africa”, having been highly educated, yet must contend with traditional, African, and Islamic views about the roles of wives and women, views espoused by their husbands and parents, but also by the women around them. An interesting read about the importance of women's development and of unity between men and women.
The novel illustrates the challenges women faced in post-colonial Africa as it rapidly modernises. Both the protagonist letter-writer and her friend represent women of the “New Africa”, having been highly educated, yet must contend with traditional, African, and Islamic views about the roles of wives and women, views espoused by their husbands and parents, but also by the women around them. An interesting read about the importance of women's development and of unity between men and women.
Available in English translation under the title So Long a Letter as translated by Modupé Bodé-Thomas.
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