West Africa
Mali
Post-colonial
French
Fiction
A violent, anti-heroic history of the fictional Nakem empire and its ruling Saif dynasty — implicating African rulers in the slave trade and resisting any romantic vision of pre-colonial Africa.
Literary Significance
Prix Renaudot; the most controversial African novel ever published; attacked both colonialism and the mystification of Africa's pre-colonial past
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Catalog summary
editorial-summarynot primary textA violent, anti-heroic history of the fictional Nakem empire and its ruling Saif dynasty — implicating African rulers in the slave trade and resisting any romantic vision of pre-colonial Africa. Prix Renaudot; the most controversial African novel ever published; attacked both colonialism and the mystification of Africa's pre-colonial past
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Research note
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