The King of Kahel - Softcover

Monénembo, Tierno

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0982555075 ISBN 13: 9780982555071

Publisher: Amazon Crossing, 2010

Synopsis

Tierno Monénembo’s The King of Kahel was originally published in France in 2008 and was the winner of the French literary prize, the prix Renaudot, which is awarded to the author of an outstanding original novel. Loosely based on the life of Olivier de Sanderval, a man who journeyed to Guinea to build an empire by conquering the hostile region of Fouta Djallon, the book exposes how Sanderval braves all dangers to build a railway that will bring modern civilization to Africa.

About this title

About the Author

Tierno Monénembo is the winner of France’s 2008 prix Renaudot, which is awarded annually to the author of an outstanding original novel. He was honored with the prize for his book, The King of Kahel. Born in 1947 in Guinea, Tierno Monénembo was exiled to Senegal and the Ivory Coast before moving to France in 1973 to pursue a doctorate in biochemistry. He is the author of nine books and one stage play.

Nicholas Elliott is a writer and translator based in New York and anywhere he accompanies his laptop. As a translator, Nicholas specializes in film, photo and art books. In 2007, he shared a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship with co-translator Elizabeth Williamson for their translation of Michel Azama’s play Vie et mort de Pier Paolo Pasolini (Life and Death of Pier Paolo Pasolini). The King of Kahel is his first translation of a work of fiction.

From the Back Cover

In the early 1880s, Aimé Victor Olivier, (known as the Viscount of Sanderval), devised a project to conquer Fouta Djallon, a highland region in Guinea, and to build a railroad through it. Nearly forgotten today, Olivier was one of the earliest colonizers of West Africa whose adventures often made headlines. Over the course of his journeys, Sanderval managed to gain the confidence of the Fula people, who gave him the Kahel plateau and authorized him to create coins bearing his effigy.

In The King of Kahel, Tierno Monénembo has brought us an incredibly rich novelized biography of this colorful character, who sought to carve out his own kingdom under the noses of both the French and the English.

(Translated from the French by Nicholas Elliott)

Reviews

To make much out of little is always impressive. But Monénembo, who won France's Prix Renaudot for this book, has done the opposite: what should have been fascinating is consistently dull. The story is loosely inspired by the life of Olivier de Sanderval, who, intent on becoming an explorer for most of his life, finally set sale for Africa in 1879 after turning 40. As Monénembo tells it, once there he recruits a crew of Senegalese infantrymen and travels to Fouta Djallon, a land he desperately wants to rule. He learns local customs that will aid him in his quest to govern. During the following years of conquests and re-conquests, Sanderval never loses his taste for European luxury and moves between Africa and France, where he publishes books on his experience and struggles to command Fouta. Eventually, he returns to Fouta with his now grown son, Georges, to find war raging between locals and the French army, finally extinguishing his lifelong dream. Monénembo attempts an epic African narrative, but the underdeveloped "king" at its center rarely comes off the page, and the many other minor players barely register, resulting in more of a long summary than a novel. (Nov.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Amazon Crossing
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0982555075
• ISBN 13: 9780982555071
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304