The Story of the Madman
by Mongo Beti
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Widely acclaimed when first published in French in 1994, Mongo Beti's tenth novel, L'histoire du fou, continues the author's humorous yet fierce criticism of the colonial system in Africa and its legacy of governmental corruption. Translated here as The Story of the Madman, the novel gives the English-speaking world Beti's comic satire of the fictional Chief Zoaételeu and his favorite sons Zoaétoa and Narcisse. In a modern fable that Beti uses to illustrate the problems of a people's show more disintegrating values in a postcolonial state, Chief Zoaételeu, a puppet under two dictatorial regimes, is swept into the frontline of politics, where his fortunes unravel. Along with his caustic portrayal of failed government--clearly a reflection of his native Cameroon--Beti's realism provides an intriguing view of the struggle for balance between traditional life and imminent change in African culture. show lessTags
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A familiar story of post-colonial Africa where a newly independent nation suffers tyrannical and wasteful governments, the nation is divided by civil war, and the former colonial power lurks in the shadows looking to profit. Mongo Beti examines a fictional nation similar to Cameroon in this satirical tale. The heart of the story of Chief Zoaételeu the patriarch of a large tribal family who speaks his mind to readily before government soldiers and is arrested and put on display in a show trial. Other characters include his conniving favorite sons and a lawyer who often bursts out in Latin and considers himself a speaker of truth who like Cassandra can't be believed. Since the characters serve a satirical purpose they often seem more show more like caricatures and it's hard to develop a true sympathy to them. In fact, a lot of the time the satire seems laid on too thick to make this an illuminating or entertaining novel. show less
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20 Works 437 Members
Mongo Beti was born in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, in 1932. He received his early education in local schools, it was followed by studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. Now a French citizen, he lives and teaches in Paris, where he is the editor of the journal Peuples Noirs, Peuples Africains, founded in 1978. Beti wrote his first novel, Ville show more Cruelle (1954), under the pseudonym Eza Boto. A favorite theme of Beti is the failure of colonial missionary efforts in Africa. He speaks not so much against Christianity as against the futile Europeanization of Africans in the name of religion. The Poor Christ of Bomba (1956), his best-known work, is written as a diary. The novel is a satire of Christian religion in precolonial Cameroon. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Story of the Madman
- Original title
- Histoire du fou
- Original publication date
- 1994
- People/Characters
- Zoaételeu; Narcisse; Zoaétoa; Jeanne; Osomnanga
- Dedication
- To my friend Gustave Massiah
- First words
- In this city where, despite the large population of madmen, there is not a single asylum or hospital willing to admit them, a young man, thirty at most and as naked as they say Adam was in the garden of Eden, wanders daily th... (show all)rough the crowded streets or, engrossed in soliloquies punctuated by sporadic and incoherent smiles, rummages mechanically in the refuse from in which he gleans his food, clucking continuously.
- Original language
- French
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 843.914 — Literature & rhetoric French Literature French fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999
- LCC
- PQ3989.2 .B45 .H5713 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Provincial, local, colonial, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 22
- Popularity
- 1,193,308
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.00)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
