AFRICAN STUDIES / FICTION

THE SUNS OF INDEPENDENCE

The Suns of Independence, considered a masterpiece of modern African literature, enables the reader to gain unique insights into African culture and conflicts. Through Fatima and Salimata, the husband and wife at the heart of this story, Ahmadou Kourouma conveys the confusion that torments many Africans when a traditional and a later, more materialistic culture collide.

Interwoven with tales and proverbs from the ancient Malinke tradition, this modern novel brilliantly captures the struggles, desires, and dreams of a people in a West African country living through the tumultuous days of independence.

Ahmadou Kourouma was born in the Ivory Coast in 1940. He was educated in Bamako, Mali, but was expelled because of a strike. He did military service in Ivory Coast, refused to suppress a riot, and was transferred to Indochina. He continued his education at Lyons and Paris returned to the Ivory Coast in 1961.

"Kourouma manages to create an atmosphere of intimacy ... He does not hesitate to let the images, the rhythms, the words of his mother-tongue pierce the polished surface of polite prose."
—New African

"The anger of the exiled writer spills over into the novel ... As the author concludes, colonized or independent, Africans will keep on suffering 'until such times as God unpeels the curse stuck fast on their backsides.'"
—World Literature Today

"This fine translation ... eloquently captures the bitter frustration and anguished oppression of the African people in the post-independence era."
—Africa Today