This first novel by a brilliantly gifted young African intellectual has been hailed by critics as the first truly African novel. It fuses legend, oral tradition, and stunning realism in a vision arising authentically from black roots.

The author draws on the history and culture of the great medieval empire of Mali, Nakem, the imaginary name he gives to a country that is real, was unified in the 13th century by the Saif dynasty. Their ruthless rule is shown as a bloody, tragic adventure.

After a brief, violent fresco depicting Nakem's past, the story moves into the 20th century. The Saifs continue in power. When the French arrive as colonizers, they unwittingly become puppets in the hands of the astute native rulers who continue to dominate by witchcraft and crime. Scenes of violence and eroticism, of sorcery and black magic appear as natural parts of human activity. from this sumptuous and frightful background emerges the book's main protagonist, Raymond Spartacus Kassoumi, the son of slaves, sent to France to be educated and groomed for a political post and so to become another puppet in the hands of the Saifs.

Ouologuem, from a vantage point uniquely his own, reveals a world in which white colonialism is preceded by black and Arab colonialism, In his endeavor to demystify African history, he is kin to Frantz Fanon. In the lyrical intensity of his images -- French critics have compared him to Rimbaud -- he is powerfully himself. he is the voice of an Africa unknown to the West, articulate here for the first time.

--Publisher, Book Cover

Perhaps the first African novel that truly merits the name . . . Doubtless, along with Léopold Sedar Senghor, Ouologuem is one of the rare intellectuals of international stature to come out of black Africa.

--Le Monde

A very beautiful and powerful book . . . Violent, sensual, dramatic, pregnant with the scents of the earth and the flesh of Africa . . . His great scenes of eroticism and violence are terrifying . . . despair and passion speak at every moment their gentle or their cruel native language.

--Le Figaro Littéraire

An extraordinary book . . . The condensed history, legendary, poetic, and realistic, of black Africa.

--Le Nouvel Observateur

A revelation . . . an epic of all African history.

--Jeune Afrique

 Read the interview with Yambo Ouolohuem here.

An African Empire from the Middle Ages to our time comes blazingly alive in this black epic, hailed as the first truly African novel and awarded the Prix Renaudot.

Bound to Violence by Yambo Ouolohuem; translated by Ralph Manhein. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. New York, 1971 £6.99

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3.20 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."