Negro Grandsons of Vercingetorix

by Alain Mabanckou, Le Serpent a plumes (Other)

Overview

Set in the imaginary African Republic of Vietongo, The Negro Grandsons of Vercingetorix begins when conflict breaks out between rival leaders and the regional ethnic groups they represent. Events recorded in a series of notebooks under the watchful eye of Hortense Lloki show how civil war culminates in a series of outlandish actions perpetrated by the warring parties' private militias—the Anacondas and the Romans from the North who have seized power against Vercingetorix (named after none other than the legendary Gallic warrior who fought against Caesar's army) and his Little Negro Grandsons in the South who are eager to regain control. Award-winning author Alain Mabanckou is at his satiric best in this novel that catalogues the pain and suffering caused by the ravages of civil war. Translated into English for the first time, this novel provides a gritty slice of life in an active war zone.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253043887
Publisher:	Indiana University Press (Ips)
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Series:	Global African Voices Series
Edition description:	Translatio
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Alain Mabanckou is a Franco-Congolese author and Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His novels include Blue White Red, African Psycho, Broken Glass, Memoirs of a Porcupine, Black Bazaar, Tomorrow I'll Be Twenty, and The Lights of Pointe-Noire. He is the recipient of numerous literary prizes such as the Grand Prix Littéraire de l'Afrique noire, Prix Renaudot, Prix Georges Brassens, and the Grand Prix de Littérature Henri Gal from the Académie Française for his life's work.
Bill Johnston's most recent translations include Adam Mickiewicz's epic poem Pan Tadeusz and Julia Fiedorczuk's Oxygen from the Polish, as well as Jeanne Benameur's The Child Who from the French. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the PEN Translation Prize, the Best Translated Book Award, and the Found in Translation Prize. He teaches literary translation at Indiana University.

Editorial Reviews

08/26/2019

Set in the fictionalized African country of Vietongo, this uneven novel from Mabanckou (Black Moses) follows Hortense Lloki, a young mother from the nation’s north living as an outsider in her husband’s southern homeland. When a southern general stages a coup to oust the sitting northern president, violence erupts throughout the country. Hortense’s husband, Kimbembé, falls in with a southern militia led by “Vercingetorix,” and quickly becomes violent and abusive, prompting her to flee and seek refuge in the port city of Pointe-Rouge. An avid reader, Hortense’s flight prompts her to begin recording her own story, and her colorful, digressive memories provide the bulk of the novel. Chiefly written in the safety of a friendly villager’s home, Hortense recounts her childhood and education in the country’s north; her courtship and eventual marriage to Kimbembé, her middle school teacher; their departure to Vietongo’s south and her life and friendships there. As such, Mabanckou’s novel is less a portrait of war than it is a snapshot of the lives it derails. While often arresting, Mabanckou’s story is limited by this form. Hortense can be a frustrating narrator, passive and unable—or disinclined—to act on her own passions. At under 200 pages, the novel suffers for want of a strong, central voice. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Nearly twenty years removed from its French publication, Mabanckou's aptitude for characterization and his unflinching glimpse of plight echo within every movement of Vercingetorix. With The Negro Grandsons of Vercingetorix, Mabanckou stresses that even as violence is an accomplice to life, perseverance is synonymous."—World Literature Today

From the Publisher

Nearly twenty years removed from its French publication, Mabanckou's aptitude for characterization and his unflinching glimpse of plight echo within every movement of Vercingetorix. With The Negro Grandsons of Vercingetorix, Mabanckou stresses that even as violence is an accomplice to life, perseverance is synonymous.

World Literature Today