Novel
Les Dieux délinquants
Not translated into English
Augustin-Sondé Coulibaly · 1974
Synopsis
A novel of social conflicts and clashes between generations in Upper Volta, in which revolt, the weight of traditions and hatred intersect, and, in the background, prostitution, a pure love, suffering and travel. Neither its characters nor its plot are known.
Context
The novel appeared in 1974, the very year in which the circle of literary and artistic activity of Upper Volta disappeared, which its author had founded with Nazi Boni and a few others: this circle had given the country its review, Visages d'Afrique, and the national grand prize for the arts and letters. Its author was then a senior information official, trained in journalism in Strasbourg, and wrote in the margins of an administrative career.
Who it is for
A novel in French; it assumes familiarity with the customs, rites and hierarchies of Voltaic societies.
Prizes and reception
Burkinabè literary histories rank it among the very first novels of the country, with those of Nazi Boni and Roger Nikièma, and it is studied in schools.