by Corinne Knowles, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
Francis Nyamnjoh is a versatile author, switching with apparent ease between scholarly and fictional writing. Having been entertained by his insightful teaching, I anticipated being taught by the entertaining Nose for Money. The novel traces the life journey of Prospere, a guileless Mimbolander who engages the reader from the start with the innocence of his internal life in the face of poverty, adversity and the seduction of money. The novel depicts the schizophrenia of an Africa aspiring to be rich, pretending to care about its people, corruptible by power and socialised into binary roles for men and women.
This latter complexity is what disappointed me in this work. The arrangement of women which Prospere loves or marries exposes a kind of misogyny: the author doesn’t allow us into their more nuanced internal lives, and the reader is treated to an array of conniving, unfaithful, materialistic and self-serving individuals who fail to elicit any sympathy – apart from the unfortunate third wife who redeems herself by dying. Somewhere in this process we lose our view of Prospere’s thought-life, as the novel descends into the sordidness of various relationships that are means to selfish ends. Perhaps life is like this, but a writer with such a gift for description and tone has the potential to unmask human failings with more insight. This would provide the reader with the possibilities of both capitulation and resistance, and the inspiration to rise above the tragedy of the fictional characters.
In The Travail of Dieudonne the daily and historical troubles of the hapless Dieudonne are the backdrop for this glimpse of an Africa divided by race, tribe, class and education. The hero and his student admirer are treated with great sympathy, and provide us with a cameo view of a conflict-torn slice of the continent. The contrasts between rich and poor, cruel and kind, illiterate and educated are teased out of Dieudonne’s tragic circumstances, and expose the tricks and treats of fate in the face of physical, emotional and historical disaster. A theme in the novel is destiny, and whether in fact we have the power to navigate our own future. Dieudonne is victim and hero, coward and clown, and he entertains the young academic who finds him, the bar patrons who lubricate him, and the reader who follows his story.
'The Travail of Dieudonné': A refreshing and challenging book.
A brief review by Pulane Shoro
I really did enjoy this book. It is also relevant to circumstances regarding our African leaders who want to regard countries as their personal properties. Leaders who refuse to relinquish power as if they are monarchies.
Reading the book made me think that the poverty experienced by most black people is similar if not the same and it is all over the world. The way Dieudonné is dependent on liquor is the same as most people that we can relate and are related to. His faith - that helps him carry on no matter what challenges he faces - is what keeps most people sane when facing difficulties.
The fact that although stereotypes would have us assume that because of his poverty Dieudonné will lose his integrity by stealing from his employers but does not, is amazing.
The fresh outlook on life by the young Dieumerci gives hope. Through him we are reminded not to lose faith or our personal stance in life. Plus he reminds us to preserve our own histories, cultures and beliefs instead of just adopting those of the affluent and westernized influences. He does not need to be accepted; he is happy being what he is and is also keeping his culture. Young Precious also gives one hope that our youth are not altogether lost to western civilization.
The way the book is written shows that the author is indeed an anthropologist and that research - on the topics discussed - was done along anthropological lines.
All in all this is a wonderful, refreshing and challenging book.
Posted by: Pulane Shoro | February 02, 2012 at 07:59 AM