Novel
Au bout du silence
Not translated into English
Laurent Owondo · 1985
Synopsis
Anka grows up in a Myene village by the sea, with his father Kota, his mother Nindia and his grandfather Rèdiwa, who initiates him into the traditions of the clan and spends long moments watching the mountains in silence. When the old man dies, the adolescent must leave the village: his parents, expropriated, settle in a shanty town in the capital, Petite Venise, where the family falls apart. Anka pursues his inner journey alone there, haunted by the divinities of the clan and visited by a mysterious female figure.
Context
The author's only novel, the book appeared in 1985 from Hatier, in the Monde noir poche series, when the author was already posted in Libreville; it draws on Myènè culture, that of his people. The narrative begins as an initiation in the village, alongside the grandfather, then takes a more realistic turn when the family joins the shantytown. The book has been reissued several times, most recently in a school series of set reading, in 2016.
Who it is for
A short novel of one hundred and twenty-seven pages, between a coming-of-age story and a social chronicle; it exists in a school edition.
Prizes and reception
Prize of the foundation named after the first president of Senegal; counted by Magloire Ambourhouet-Bigmann among the most studied African novels.
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