CARAF Books from Virginia

CARAF Books from Virginia

Caribbean and African Literature translated from French

It Shall Be of Jasper and Coral and Love-across-a-Hundred Lives:
Two Novels
by Werewere Liking
The West African writer, painter, playwright, and director Werewere Liking is considered one of the best literary interpreters of the postcolonial condition in Africa. Her first work to be translated into English, these two novels spare nothing in their satirical portraits of the patriarchal view of African society as they experiment radically with the novel form. FORTHCOMING APRIL 2000

Of Dreams and Assassins
by Malika Mokeddem
The urgent and rhythmic fourth novel of Malika Mokeddem, her second to appear in English. Born in Algeria to a Bedouin family that had only recently become sedentary, Mokeddem was raised on the stories of her grandmother, who encouraged her education at a time when girls did not go to school. Of Dreams and Assassins, though not strictly autobiographical, evokes through the beauty and vastness and oppressive heat of the desert Mokeddem's early yearning for freedom. Through its heroine, Kenza, and her simultaneous rebellion and immersion in the literary classics at a boarding school, the novel dramatizes the possibilities for women to express their identities.

General Sun, My Brother
by Jacques Stephen Alexis, translated and with an introduction by Carroll F. Coates
"How extremely exciting to have Jacques Stephen Alexis' masterpiece Général Compère Soleil finally translated in English for a whole new generation of readers to enjoy, question, and admire."

Edwidge Danticat, author of The Farming of Bones

New in Paperback
Women of Algiers in Their Apartment
by Assia Djebar
Translated by Marjolijn de Jager with an Afterword by Clarisse Zimra
"Algerian-born writer and filmmaker Djebar . . . makes her American debut with a collection offering memorable portraits of Arabic women in a time of change. Spanning the years 1958 to 1979, a period when Algeria fought a bitter war of independence from France and experienced a socialist revolution, Djebar's stories are intended to be 'the voice of all the women they've kept walled in' in Islamic society . . . . As much a critique as a picture of [this] society, Djebar's debut--plus its informative afterword--is an elegant and evocative introduction to a too little-known world."

Kirkus Reviews

The Collected Poetry
by Leopold Sedar Senghor
Leopold Sedar Senghor was not only president of the Republic of Senegal from 1960 to 1981, he is also Africa's most famous poet. A cofounder of the Negritude cultural movement, he is recognized as one of the most significant figures in African literature. This bilingual edition of Senghor's complete poems made his work available for the first time to English-speaking audiences. His poetry, alive with sensual imagery, contrasts the lushness and wonder of Africa's past with the alienation and loss associated with assimilation into European culture. Translator Melvin Dixon places Senghor's writing in historical persepctive by relating it to both his political involvement and his intellectual development.

http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/caraf.html
Revised 3/10/00

		CARAF Books from Virginia Caribbean and African Literature translated from French
		It Shall Be of Jasper and Coral and Love-across-a-Hundred Lives: Two Novels by Werewere Liking The West African writer, painter, playwright, and director Werewere Liking is considered one of the best literary interpreters of the postcolonial condition in Africa. Her first work to be translated into English, these two novels spare nothing in their satirical portraits of the patriarchal view of African society as they experiment radically with the novel form. FORTHCOMING APRIL 2000
		Of Dreams and Assassins by Malika Mokeddem The urgent and rhythmic fourth novel of Malika Mokeddem, her second to appear in English. Born in Algeria to a Bedouin family that had only recently become sedentary, Mokeddem was raised on the stories of her grandmother, who encouraged her education at a time when girls did not go to school. Of Dreams and Assassins, though not strictly autobiographical, evokes through the beauty and vastness and oppressive heat of the desert Mokeddem's early yearning for freedom. Through its heroine, Kenza, and her simultaneous rebellion and immersion in the literary classics at a boarding school, the novel dramatizes the possibilities for women to express their identities.
		General Sun, My Brother by Jacques Stephen Alexis, translated and with an introduction by Carroll F. Coates "How extremely exciting to have Jacques Stephen Alexis' masterpiece Général Compère Soleil finally translated in English for a whole new generation of readers to enjoy, question, and admire." Edwidge Danticat, author of The Farming of Bones
		New in Paperback Women of Algiers in Their Apartment by Assia Djebar Translated by Marjolijn de Jager with an Afterword by Clarisse Zimra "Algerian-born writer and filmmaker Djebar . . . makes her American debut with a collection offering memorable portraits of Arabic women in a time of change. Spanning the years 1958 to 1979, a period when Algeria fought a bitter war of independence from France and experienced a socialist revolution, Djebar's stories are intended to be 'the voice of all the women they've kept walled in' in Islamic society . . . . As much a critique as a picture of [this] society, Djebar's debut--plus its informative afterword--is an elegant and evocative introduction to a too little-known world." Kirkus Reviews
		The Collected Poetry by Leopold Sedar Senghor Leopold Sedar Senghor was not only president of the Republic of Senegal from 1960 to 1981, he is also Africa's most famous poet. A cofounder of the Negritude cultural movement, he is recognized as one of the most significant figures in African literature. This bilingual edition of Senghor's complete poems made his work available for the first time to English-speaking audiences. His poetry, alive with sensual imagery, contrasts the lushness and wonder of Africa's past with the alienation and loss associated with assimilation into European culture. Translator Melvin Dixon places Senghor's writing in historical persepctive by relating it to both his political involvement and his intellectual development.
		http://www.upress.virginia.edu/books/caraf.html Revised 3/10/00