According to Geoff Wisner, it is worth reading The African "to learn more about the author's childhood, personality, and relationship with his father… for the sometimes elegant beauty of the prose".
However, "don't read it for its insights into Africa and its people. Why?
The most efficient way to explain is to say that The African scores high on the criteria set out in Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina's essay How to Write About Africa".
Really worth reading the criteria analysis here:
Ha! Interesting and funny article indeed! Well done Le Clezio :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't agree in many things here, you can write about Spain, talk about flamenco, and still get a beautifully done article or book. There is not just a series of rules that you need to set, you need to say things how you feel them or perceive them. Le Clezio is writing about his childhood, and his family, and of a period that included some time in Africa, he is not trying to write a politically correct essay of Africa. This is like saying that you cannot talk about Asia, when you mean China... it depends, it is so relative...
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't take it too seriously, Rocio. I think this article was written to make 'The African' score high, not the other way around. Le Clezio writes from the bottom of his heart a very deep and personal experience. You can always find clichés if you look for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Arantxa. I do not think the article is meant to undermine the book. I really find a funny touch in the way the article's author presents the analysis, and I see how the book nicely fits in the "criteria".
ReplyDeleteWriting from the ignorance of only knowing a very tiny part of the north of Africa, I feel that Africa is one and many; so I can see how you can talk about Africa and talk about a corner of a specific country, and find that in both descriptions there are common points and very different things.
Having said that, I love how Le Clézio describes how he feels the continent overall, and his childhood "corner" in particular.