Laye Camara

At the beginning of this masterpiece of African literature, Clarence, a white man, has been shipwrecked on the coast of Africa. Flush with self-importance, he demands to see the king, but the king has just left for the south of his realm. Traveling through an increasingly phantasmagoric landscape in the company of a beggar and two roguish boys, Clarence is gradually stripped of his pretensions, until he is sold to the royal harem as a slave. But in the end Clarence&’s bewildering journey is the occasion of a revelation, as he discovers the image, both shameful and beautiful, of his own humanity in the alien splendor of the king

The Radiance of the King

Récit autobiographique écrit par Laye à l'âge de 25 ans. La vie quotidienne, les traditions et les coutumes des habitants de la Haute-Guinée dans les années 1930 et 1940. Un classique. [SDM].

roman

L'enfant noir

With an Introd. by Philippe Thoby-Marcellin. Translated by James Kirkup, Ernest Jones [and] Elaine Gottlieb

The Dark Child

The Guardian of the Word

A Dream of Africa

James Kirkup

The Dark Child is a vivid and graceful memoir of Camara Laye's youth in the village of Kouroussa, French Guinea, a place steeped in mystery. Laye marvels over his mother's supernatural powers, his father's distinction as the village goldsmith, and his own passage into manhood, which is marked by animistic beliefs and bloody rituals. Eventually, he must choose between this unique place and the academic success that lures him to distant cities. More than autobiography of one boy, this is the universal story of sacred traditions struggling against the encroachment of a modern world. A passionate and deeply affecting record, The Dark Child is a classic of African literature.

Laye Camara

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