The African Child
A goldsmith's son grows up at Kouroussa between his father's forge, where a small black snake comes and goes as the guiding spirit of the family, and his mother, who is credited with powers of her own and is never asked to explain them. School takes him to Conakry and a scholarship takes him further, and every step away is paid for by somebody at home. Written in a workers' hostel in Paris, it was the first African novel in French to be widely read in France, and was attacked there for showing a childhood the colonial administration barely touches.
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- 50% · 13 shared
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- 44% · 10 shared