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Description
The Lieutenant of Kouta is the first novel in Massa Makan Diabate?'s award-winning trilogy. Featuring an introduction by leading Diabate? scholar Cheick M. Che?rif Kei?ta and Shane Auerbach, it tells the story, part tragicomic and part hagiographic, of an African lieutenant in the French Army who returns as a decorated hero from the battlefields of Europe to Kouta, a fictionalized version of the author's own birthplace, the Malian town of Kita. Upon his return, Siriman Keita finds it show more difficult to adjust to village life as he navigates traditional customs in his attempts to create his place in the predominantly Muslim Kouta. The novel offers a rich and nuanced representation of Mali on the brink of independence; it is a tapestry of traditional Mandinka society and the French colonial apparatus, illustrating the dynamic interplay between the two. This text is, ultimately, a story of one man's transformation coinciding with that of his country. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
La voix narrative ici est forte, et Diabaté examine avec perspicacité les tensions entre le colonialisme, la tradition et le nationalisme croissant. Mais son style est bien celui des années soixante-dix; pour moi, le livre a mal vieilli.
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Mali
17 works; 2 members
Author Information
8 Works 55 Members
Awards and Honors
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Monde Noir Poche (23)
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1979
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Historical Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 843.914 — Literature & rhetoric French Literature French fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999
- LCC
- PQ3989.2 .D44 .L513 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Provincial, local, colonial, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 21
- Popularity
- 1,236,006
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (2.50)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
