Customer Reviews

Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French)

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First, it must be noted that this Francophone novel has two different English translations: one by Frank Wynne (published by Heinemann in the UK), and one by Carrol Coates (published by the Univ. Press of Virginia in the US). I borrowed both from the library and read the first ten pages of each to determine which to proceed with. I found the Wynne translation to be far more readable, and perhaps equally importantly, the typesetting of the Coates edition is atrocious, far too dense and hard to read. Therefore, although the basic content of the two versions is the same, my comments are based on the Wynne/UK edition of the book. However, the Coates edition does have a brief and informative afterword that's worthwhile.

This is the third of Kourouma's novels to appear in English, following The Suns of Independence and Monnew. Taken together, the three books form a full-bodied portrait of West Africa from the time of colonialism up to the present. (His latest book, Allah is Not Obliged, is about a child soldier in Liberia). Here, the story is told through a traditional storyteller/praise singer engaged by Koyaga, president for life of a fictional West African nation. The storyteller and his fool apprentice are to tell the president's life story, warts and all, over the course of a six-day ritual, for a reason not revealed until the final pages. The tale that emerges is a wicked satire of post-colonial African despotism. Like many writers, Kourouma has fictionalized the targets of his outrage, although those familiar with modern African history will be able to spot Sékou Touré (Guinea), King Hassan II (Morocco), Bokassa (CAR), Houphonouet-Boigny (Cote d'Ivoire), and Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire) amongst the various leaders Koyaga visits for advice in one lengthy section. Born in and exiled from Cote d'Ivoire, Kourouma lived in France, Cameroon, Algeria, and Togo, and has modeled Koyaga on the Togolese dictator Gnassingbé Eyadema (who died earlier this year and was succeeded by his son following some very dubious elections in April).

Koyaga's life story is mostly as one would expect, mythical beginnings, leading to a distinguished career in the French colonial armies serving in Vietnam (as Kourouma himself did), leading to the inevitable military coup, oceans of offspring, and lifelong rule. And, as anyone who follows Africa could guess, there's plenty of corruption, torture, and tragedy to follow, all backed by the Western powers seeking to win the Cold War. And when the Cold War ends, and Koyaga is confronted by demands for Structural Adjustment Programs and the like, he must scramble to keep the disaffected youth from joining with returned elite exiles to overthrow his rule. Kourouma is clearly angry and bitter at what Africa became after independence, and he does yeoman work in bearing witness to this without ever becoming strident or editorial. The main flaw is that it is a rather lengthy work (there is a long section which digresses into the life of Koyaga's right-hand man), and can be a bit exhausting. Yet it remains a great deal more readable than a much African fiction in translation. Those with a strong interest in modern African literature will obviously want to check it out, and anyone with a strong interest in Togo should have a look as well.

This 1998 work by French-speaking Africa's premier novelist is a vehemently outspoken satire of despotic and corrupt African regimes from the 1960s to the 1990s. It's the life story of Koyaga, dictator and "founding father" of the fictitious West African state called the Republique du Golfe. Koyaga's history is recounted over the course of a "donsomana," a six-night storytelling by a hunters' bard, and the novel reflects this in its six-part form, interspersed with asides and proverbs drawn from the author's Malinke roots.

Koyaga himself is an interesting and contradictory character, despite remaining rather underdeveloped as the author concentrates on his political rather than personal life. He's a military strongman who took power through innumerable assassinations and acts of brutality. But Koyaga isn't portrayed as evil--in fact he seems to be beloved by his countrymen, at least those who aren't constantly trying to kill him. The reader is introduced to and immersed in the perspective of the African tyrant, one who after three decades in power has begun to believe his own self-serving propaganda.

The most interesting sections of "Waiting for the Vote" are those depicting Koyaga's visits to his fellow African dictators. Here the novelist gives us very thinly disguised versions of autocratic regimes of days gone by--Sekou Toure's Guinea, Felix Houpouet-Boigny's Cote d'Ivoire, Bokassa's Central African Empire, Mobutu's Zaire, and even the Morocco of King Hassan II. Each of these leaders lets Koyaga in on his own secrets to maintaining power, and gives him fatherly advice on preserving his own grip. We see otherwise kindly and respected statesmen who jail and torture their own friends, just to be sure of their loyalty. We see presidents who make no distinction between personal and public wealth; it's all theirs for the taking. And we see wily survivors who outwit countless threats to their rule and their lives, clinging to power in the face of tremendous opposition at home and abroad. Koyaga takes all their lessons to heart and becomes a master of the game of political survival.

All this makes for great commentary, but how does fit into a novel? In presenting these images, "Waiting for the Vote" loses some of its narrative punch. The reader, if she's been reading the papers at all over the last decade, already knows how things are going to come out. We know that the 1990s will usher in a wave of "democratization" and "transparent government" in Africa, curbing (though not ending) the continent's autocratic excesses. But along the way we get a rare insight into what it's like to be a dictator, to have an entire nation singing your praises while simultaneously resenting you and, time after time, trying to assassinate you.

With such keen observations of the modern African political scene, why must Kourouma resort to putting his fictional gloss on actual events? Why not simply come out with a collection of trenchant essays? The likely answer is that if he were to describe Houphouet-Boigny or King Hassan II the same way he describes their fictionalized stand-ins, his books would likely be banned in those countries where he'd most want them to be read. "Waiting for the Vote" gets as close as it can to political expose without quite crossing that line into dangerous territory.

I bought this book because I was doing some work on Togo and wanted to understand more about the country, without having to plough through academic texts. This book gave me some valuable insight into the psychology of a dictator such as Koyaga. Unlike the other reviewers, I don't have a detailed knowledge of African history and politics, and found this book an entertaining (and, at times, disturbing) way of gaining some insight into this topic.

The book is told in the format of a praise song, which is interesting and provides opportunities for much satirical humour to come through. I did find the book a little long-winded in parts. However, I don't necessarily agree with the reviewer who said that the book would have been better as a series of technical essays--I think the novel format allows Kourouma to delve into Koyaga's underlying motivations and also to focus on the superstitions and mythology that play such an important role in the story.

In my view, Kourouma is an incisive observer, painting both the African dictators and the (mainly French) colonialists in an equally satirical light. I was interested to read in the Afterword that Kourouma was a banker who had worked both in France and in various West African countries (including Togo), which I think gives him a unique perspective.