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So Long a Letter (African Writers)

So Long a Letter (African Writers)

So Long a Letter (African Writers)
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So Long a Letter (African Writers) Paperback - 2008

by Mariama Ba

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  • Paperback
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Description

It is not only the fact that this is the most deeply felt presentation of the female condition in African fiction that gives distinction to this novel, but also its undoubted literary qualities, which seem to place it among the best novels that have come out of our continent. - West Africa

This novel is a perceptive testimony to the plight of articulate women who live in social milieux dominated by attitudes and values that deny them their proper place. It is a sequence of reminiscences, some wistful, some bitter, recounted by a recently widowed Senegalese school teacher. The letter, addressed to an old friend, is a record of her emotional struggle for survival after her husband's abrupt decision to take a second wife. Although his action is sanctioned by Islam, it is a calculated betrayal of his wife's trust and a brutal rejection of their life together.

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Details

  • Title So Long a Letter (African Writers)
  • Author Mariama Ba
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Condition Used - Very Good
  • Pages 112
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Heinemann, England
  • Date 2008-09
  • Bookseller's Inventory # 9780435913526
  • ISBN 9780435913526 / 0435913522
  • Weight 0.26 lbs (0.12 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.72 x 5.04 x 0.24 in (19.61 x 12.80 x 0.61 cm)
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

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About the author

Mariama Ba catapulted onto the African literary scene with her first novel, 'So Long a Letter', which received much acclaim and admiration. The Senegalese writer who was born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1929, was educated - unlike many other women of her generation - at the Ecole Normal for girls in Rufisque. Brought up as a Muslim by maternal grandparents, she studied the Koran during school holidays.
Ba began writing at school and in her early essays there are hints at the critical approach that she was to adopt in her writings to society around her. A pioneer of women's right, she became involved in several Senegalese women's organisations. Her commitment to eradicating inequalities between men and women in Africa led her to write So Long A Letter. The novel, originally written in French, was translated into sixteen languages and won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa. The English translation of the novel was first published in 1981.
A school teacher and inspector by profession, Ba promoted the crucial role of the writer in a developing country. She believed that the 'sacred mission' of the writer was to strike out 'at the archaic practices, traditions and customs that are not a real part of our precious cultural heritage.' So Long a Letter succeeds admirably in its mission.
Ba died tragically in 1981 in Dakar after a long illness, just before her second novel appeared.

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