The Story of The Madman: A Novel

Widely acclaimed when first published in French in 1994, Mongo Beti’s tenth novel, L’histoire du fou, continues the author’s humorous yet fierce criticism of the colonial system in Africa and its legacy of governmental corruption. Translated here as The Story of the Madman, the novel gives the English-speaking world Beti’s comic satire of the fictional Chief Zoaeteleu and his favorite sons Zoaetoa and Narcisse. In a modern fable that Beti uses to illustrate the problems of a people’s distintegrating values in a postcolonial state, Chief Zoaeteleu, a puppet under two dictatorial regimes, is swept into the frontline of politics, where his fortunes unravel. Along with his caustic portrayal of failed government – clearly a reflection of his native Cameroon – Beti’s realism provides an intriguing view of the struggle for balance between traditional life and imminent change in African culture.

Purchase from a retailer:

Category: Tag:

Additional information

Format

Author Picture

Mongo Beti

Alexandre Biyidi Awala (30 June 1932 – 8 October 2001), known as Mongo Beti or Eza Boto, was a Cameroonian writer.

Beti spent much of his life in France, studying at the Sorbonne and becoming a professor at Lycée Pierre Corneille.

Leave a Reply

Comments (

)

X