Scarlet Song [Paperback]

Mariama Ba (Author), Dorothy S Blair (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0582264553 | ISBN-13: 978-0582264557 | Publication Date: May 7, 1995

Mireille, daughter of a French Diplomat, Ousmane, son of a poor Muslim family in Senegal: Two childhood sweethearts forced to share their love in secret. Their marriage shocks and dismays both sets of parents, but it soon becomes clear that their youthful optimism and love is a poor defense against the pressures of society. As Ousmane is lured back to his roots, Mireille is left humiliated, isolated and alone. The tyranny of tradition and chauvinism is exposed in this novel from Senegal as two childhood sweethearts are forced to share their love in secret.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 171 pages
• Publisher: Longman (May 7, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0582264553
• ISBN-13: 978-0582264557
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #146,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mariama Ba was a literary genius!!!, February 10, 2005

By 

Akanimo (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarlet Song (Paperback)

Scarlet song is the story of two lovers, Ousmane Gueye and Mireille De La Valle who are in an interracial relationships. Both set of lovers endured their parental opposition to the relationship with Mireille receiving the raw end of the deal ... her father disowns her after her secret wedding. Following their wedding, she relocates with her husband to his country, Senegal. Unfortunately, their story book romance is unable to withstand some of the traditions and expectations of her inlaws. Her mother inlaw mocks her and calls her a jinee. Ousmane, a weak willed fellow is gradually drawn into his culture, abandons his wife for his once secret crush, Ouleymatou, who had spurned his advances during their teenage years because of Ousmane's devotion to his mom. The two embark on an illicit romance with the approval of their family and a union is produced from the relationship. When Mireille gets wind of the illicit relationship, now legalized by the society, she suffers a breakdown and at the end of the novel, she is about to be deported back to France by the French Embassy.

Scarlet Song is another classic from Mariama Ba. The novel is deep and intense, the literary qualities is superb, she writes with panache and at the end of the novel, the reader comes out with the conclusion that the narrator of this novel was adept at weaving the story consistently. She probably would have been a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature if she was still alive.

Highly Recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A collision between two cultures where the woman is the inevitable loser, November 23, 2009

By 

Trevor Coote "Trevor Coote" (Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scarlet Song (Longman African Classics) (Paperback)

In the first two years of the 1980s Senegalese author Mariama Bā wrote two exquisite novels and died. A good career move perhaps but a genuine loss to world literature for she was the seminal African voice crusading against sexual injustice. Since then she has been a major influence on African literature. Scarlet Song is a short but powerful tale of a collision between two incompatible cultures where the woman is the inevitable loser.
Ousmane, `the black son of a disabled ex-serviceman and an illiterate housewife' meets Mireille, daughter of a French diplomat at a French school in Dakar and they fall in love. Incensed at his daughter's infatuation with a poor black boy Mireille's haughty father banishes her back to France where she rebels against her family and joins the 1968 students' revolt. During their years at university Ousmane and Mireille write to each other and their love passes the test of time. His motives unsuspected by his parents, Ousmane travels to Europe where he marries Mireille in secret. His new wife converts to Islam and returns to Senegal with her husband where she is grudgingly greeted by his family. However, Ousmane finds himself drawn more and more back into to his culture and the women of his past. Surrounded by people plotting against her the result is painful and humiliating isolation for his wife.
One of the triumphs of Scarlet Song is in the sympathetic depiction of the suffering inflicted on the two families as a result of the liaison, even though their agony is based on unsavoury historical and personal prejudices. Ousmane and Mireille also suffer inner conflict at the prospect of betraying their respective cultures though finally it is she who acquiesces. In her two magnificent novels (So Long a Letter is the other) Mariama Bā rallies against injustice and the subservient role enforced on women in traditional societies but the real injustice is the unfamiliarity of her works in the English-speaking world.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book you'll ever read, February 14, 2000

By 

Tania J. Paterick-Sterud - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scarlet Song (Paperback)

Mariama Ba brings to life the true realities and complexities of interraccial marriage. She writes poignantly and beautifully. She is a master narrator, and will amaze you with her fabulous storytelling. I have read "Scarlet Song" numerous times, and wrote my senoir thesis about this book.