Novel
Guanya Pau: A Story of an African Princess
Joseph Jeffrey Walters · 1891
Synopsis
The daughter of a Vai chief of Gallenah, Guanya Pau was promised as a child to Kai Kundu, a man much older than she, who already has several wives, whereas she loves Momo, whom her mother denies her. She runs away with Jassah, her faithful friend, in search of a place where women are respected, towards a Christian community where Momo awaits her; on the way, the two young women, captured several times, see mistreated women everywhere.
Context
Published in 1891 in Cleveland, Ohio, by Lauer & Mattill, the book is regarded as the oldest surviving novel in English by a black African. Rediscovered, it was reissued in 1994 with a preface by Oyekan Owomoyela, then in 2004 by Broadview, edited by Gareth Griffiths and John Victor Singler, with documents on the education of African women and on the Vai script. The author sets Protestant values, grounded in the Bible and in Shakespeare, against child betrothal and polygamy.
Who it is for
For reading one of the very first African novels in English, a plea by a Vai convert on behalf of women.
Prizes and reception
Publishers Weekly stresses in 1994 the tension between the author's love for his country and his adherence to Western values.
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