ImageNations

One does not fix appointments with fate. Fate grasps whom it wants, when it wants. [1] Again, I think: heart massage, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, ridiculous weapons against the divine will. [2] Standing upright, her eyes meeting my disapproving look, she mutters between teeth reddened by cola nuts: 'Lady, death is just as beautiful as life has been' [8] Each profession, intellectual or manual, deserves consideration, whether it requires painful physical or manual dexterity, wide knowledge or the patience of an ant. Ours, like that of the doctor, does not allow for any mistake. You don't joke with life, and life is both body and mind. To warp a soul is as much a sacrilege as murder. [23/24] You don't burn the tree which bears the fruit. [32] The play of destiny remains impenetrable. The cowries that a female neighbour throws on a fan in front of me do not fill me with optimism, neither when they remain face upwards, showing the black hollow that si...

Title: So Long a Letter* Author: Mariama  Bâ Translator: Madupe Bode-Thomas Genre: Fiction Publishers: African Writers Series Classics Original Language: French Pages: 97 Year of First Publication: 1979 Country: Senegal Mariama  Bâ's epistolary novella,  So Long a Letter , voted as one of the best African books in the twentieth Century , is a commentary on Senegal's, and by extension Africa's, patriarchal society and the role of tradition and customs in maintaining and perpetuating the status quo. To some extent, the novella also portrays certain inherent weaknesses in some women when faced with the opportunity to finally take flight.  It also opens up such feminist topics as polygamy, providing a different angle to the old story from a woman's perspective. Consequently, it has been described in some quarters as the first African feminist book and the author's overt use of 'New African Woman', 'Independence', 'Liberation'...