Overview
Region
West Africa
Senegal
Era
Post-colonial
Language
French
Genre
Fiction
About This Work
El Hadji Abdou Kader Bèye, a Senegalese businessman who takes a third wife, discovers he has been struck with xala — impotence. A satirical allegory of the African bourgeoisie's complicity with neo-colonialism.
Literary Significance
Sembène adapted it into one of his most celebrated films; a withering satire of post-independence African elites