The Viceroy of Ouidah

One hundred and seventeen years after his death, Francisco Manoel da Silva's descendants still gathered yearly in Ouidah for a Requiem Mass and dinner in his honour. This was far more that an average family gathering, for when Dom Francisco died back in 1857, "... he left sixty-three mulatto sons and an unknown quantity of daughters, whose ever-darkening progeny {were} now numberless as grasshoppers".

This 'ever-darkening' aspect was one that worried the descendants, attached as they were to what they perceived to be their European origins, feeling that somehow this elevated them above the citizens of Dahomey, Nigeria, Zaire, Togo and other countries they had populated. The da Silvas clung to the past, calling themselves Brazilians, for show more that is where their ancestor had been born. They clung to this idea of whiteness, pointing to Dom Francisco's last surviving daughter, Mlle Eugenia da Silva, "... a skeleton who happened to breathe". The unthinkable was now happening, even as they feasted. Mlle Eugenia, their Mama Wéwé, was dying. They would have to drop all pretence.

Francisco da Silva had first come to the shores of what is now Benin in 1812. He represented a Brazilian company that bought slaves from the King of Dahomey to supply Brazilian planters, in exchange for guns, rum, and whatever else might take the King's fancy. Da Silva dreamed of returning to Bahia. In the meantime, he built a house, just like the his Brazilian partner's.

This all sounds as if the author sees Africa through imperial eyes, as a continent whose only purpose is to be exploited, whose people are as much a commercial resource as palm oil or gold. That may be true of the da Silvas, but Chatwin manages to give his tale a twist, so that the man who comes to make his fortune winds up a slave himself, a hostage to the King who has made him his blood brother, so tying him with invisible bonds to his macabre throne and to the country da Silva would plunder and flee.

There are many novels by non Africans of Africa defeating those who would exploit it. There are echoes of some of them here. This is Chatwin's first novel, and it is obvious Conrad and Greene were strong influences. However, it is also obvious Chatwin cannot equal either. At times, images of Flashman pop unbidden to mind. While Flashman fans are legion, it is probably not a style Chatwin was striving for. While at times the writing is lush, there is an off kilter feel to it, a feeling that Chatwin couldn't seem to decide between horror and adventure.

Perhaps this is in part because there was a real life Francisco Manoel da Silva, Francisco Féliz de Souza, whose descendants actually do gather annually to honour him. While Chatwin has his family mourning the "...Slave Trade as a lost Golden Age when their family was rich, famous and white", it is difficult to imagine today. Yet the website for the Ouidah Museum of History, after stating de Souza managed the slave trade for Dahomey, adds "To this day, the descendants of de Souza hold a place of importance in Ouidan society". Even Werner Herzog has taken on this story, with his 1987 Cobra Verde, with Klaus Kinski as da Silva. Not really recommended; in the end, this is probably a book best suited to Chatwin completists. show less

At only a hundred pages, this is more a novella than a novel but Chatwin's classic definitely punches above its weight. A splendid history of a Brazilian slaver who came to Dahomey, Chatwin uses every single word to maximum effect. A lesser writer could have put together a novel twice its length, but with only ten percent of its power. This is magnificent stuff.

A headlong rush through the life of a hardbitten Atlantic slave trader, who finds a way to escape his harsh upbringing in the Sertão in Portuguese Brazil by becoming the agent in the Kingdom of Dahomey in West Africa and founding a sprawling dynasty of mulatto children. It is a classic rise and fall story. Maybe a bit too superficial as Chatwin mashes words and worlds together, but bloody hell he could write evocatively. And concisely, in 100 pages conveys more than many an epic, and avoids any trite moralising about the ills of slavery. It is unsparingly brutal, not just the European colonial powers and the Brazilian plantation owners, and all their intermediaries, but also the Kingdom with its human sacrifices and wars that feed the show more trade. show less

Pretty decent novella. Originally intended to be a non-fiction biography of a famous slave trader. The author felt he hadn't managed to get hold of enough facts so changed a couple of names and published it as fiction.

A very rich and vivid descriptive style. But its still essentially a biography an i'm not a big fan of bio's.
Many books are more fun to 'have read' than 'to be reading' this is the opposite. Fun to read due to the style but didn't feel like i took away too much from the experience. Also quite short.

In the simplest of terms this short (155 pg) novella follows the life of Brazilian slave trader Francisco Manoel da Silva from 1812 to 1857 in the West African region of Dahomey. This is not a book full of character development and ambling plot lines. The writing is concise and what Chatwin doesn't say is almost more important as what makes it onto the page. He takes a true story and weaves magic into it. Francisco grows up destined to be a slave trader. Orphaned at a young age, he was coldly indifferent to the sufferings of man. He knew early on that feelings were a sign of weakness. As he grew older he wandered from job to job, each one taking him closer to destiny; branding cattle until he moved on to work with a man who sold the show more equipment of slavery, for example. Francisco too a fascination with slave dealings watching the boats come in and the "cargo" unloaded. show less

Well regarded at the time (1980), Chatwin's fictional and short account of a slave-owning family's fortunes in nineteenth century Dahomey now appears as a dated and even a rather patronising account of the history of slavery and Africa.

It means well but Chatwin's style is cold and detached, luxuriating in words that require a dictionary to hand (although his prose is unforced and clear). There is a disconnect here between the facts and his desire to give us a history that might appeal to our sentiments.

It is both very English and very 'liberal', evading perhaps any sophistication in analysing the conditions that make people sociopathic and disregarding of others beyond the obvious implication that poverty hardens us.

There is also show more something unpleasant in the way he presents Africans at times, to the extent that, as the story precedes, one feels that he has been a bit of magpie in collecting colonialist, popular and sentimental liberal tropes in order to mash them up into a pleasing narrative.

The book was a quick and easy read but I was disappointed to find that I thought it clever but uninspiring and untrustworthy. I could not put my finger on what what was wrong until I realised that it lacked a 'soul', some sense of engagement with the subject matter. show less

In questo romanzo Chatwin sviluppa la sua corrente aneddotica, che nei suoi saggi e articoli è funzionale per arricchire l’esposizione, e restituisce una biografia dai tratti leggendari di un personaggio realmente esistito.
La vicenda prende le mosse durante l’anniversario della morte di Dom Francisco Da Silva, quando i suoi discendenti si riuniscono per celebrare l’evento. La famiglia Da Silva, il cui sangue brasiliano è diluito dal tempo, ormai è una parte integrante della popolazione africana. Tuttavia la grande famiglia è radicata nelle tradizioni e dall’identificazione della propria ascendenza. Sono un caso esemplare del prodotto dell’imperialismo, tanto avulsi dalla realtà da non considerare neanche la rivoluzione show more politica e sociale del Dahomey, che nel frattempo è divenuto l’odierno Benin. Nel descrivere la decadenza della discendenza del patriarca brasiliano, Chatwin ricuce le fila della vita di questo avventuriero, che trovatosi al posto giusto nel momento giusto, è riuscito a costruirsi un impero personale basato sul rispetto e la complicità del re del Dahomey e la ricchezza e i rapporti commerciali con gli americani basati sullo schiavismo. Chatwin ci presenta altresì la terra di follia e dalla miriade di contraddizioni che è l’Africa, dove regnano sovrani pazzi e dove un uomo senza patria e famiglia può costruirsi la propria fortuna, anche se quando si conclude la vicenda, l’impero di Da Silva si sfalda, come se la sua potenza fosse un riflesso stesso della sua persona, destinato a indebolirsi come egli stesso raggiunge la senilità. show less