Batouala (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: René Maran
- First Published: 1921
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Social realism
- Time of Work: c. 1910
- Setting: Ubangi-Shari and French Equatorial Africa (present-day Central African Republic)
- Principal Characters: Batouala, Yassigui’ndja, Bissibi’ngui, I’ndouvoura
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: Africa or Africans, Colonialism, Villages, Manners or customs, 1910’s, Jealousy, envy, or resentment
- Locales: Africa
The Story:
At the start of the day, the great chief Batouala arose at dawn to his usual morning ritual of scratching himself, yawning, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, and making love to his sleeping wife—all mundane acts he performed daily and mindlessly. His days consisted of a morning smoke, his favorite pastime; breakfast with Yassigui’ndja, his first and favorite but childless wife; and disdainful reflections on how the whites’ way of life was different from his. Because his thoughts and actions were tradition-inspired, he rejected anything that opposed...
[The entire page is 2322 words long]
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