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The Shameful State

The Shameful State A Novel - Global African Voices

Paperback (03 Jan 2016)

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Publisher's Synopsis

Set in a fictitious African nation, this novel by the distinguished writer Sony Labou Tansi takes aim at the corruption, degeneracy, violence, and repression of political life in Africa. At the heart of The Shameful State is the story of Colonel Martillimi Lopez, the nation's president, whose eccentricity and whims epitomize the "shameful situation in which humanity has elected to live." Lopez stages a series of grotesque and barbaric events while his nation falls apart. Unable to resist the dictator's will, his desperate citizens are left with nothing but humiliation. The evocation of this deranged world is a showcase for the linguistic and stylistic inventiveness that are the hallmark of Sony Labou Tansi's work.

This first English translation by Dominic Thomas includes a foreword by Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou that contextualizes the novel's importance in literary history and the significance of Sony Labou Tansi for future generations of writers.

About the Publisher

Indiana University Press

Book information

ISBN: 9780253019257
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Imprint: Indiana University Press
Pub date:
DEWEY: 843.914
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 132
Weight: 192g
Height: 216mm
Width: 143mm
Spine width: 10mm