After answering a classified ad placed by an import-export company
looking for energetic young men willing to take on responsibilities
for its African branches--no diploma required--Victor finds himself
on "The Will of God," a dilapidated boat heading into the heart of
darkness as even Conrad couldn't have imagined. With the piquant
mixture of hilarity and painful disenchantment characterizing Paule
Constant's vision of the "colonial novel," "White Spirit" follows
three innocents--Victor; Lola, a mulatto prostitute; and Alexis,
who does not know he's a monkey--as they negotiate the perverse
system of desires and hatreds on an African banana plantation.
Selling what no one wants or needs, Victor takes delivery of a
barrel of mysterious powder promptly christened "white spirit" for
its ability to bleach the black arms of the workers handling the
shipment. To become whiter and worthier of love, Lola buys
some--and then the rest vanishes. In this nightmarish Africa where
colonized and colonizers have each other in a stranglehold, the
"white spirit" unleashes an obsession that merges whiteness with a
return to paradise--an obsession that can only end in catastrophe.
Through it all, with her characteristic caustic language, fierce
irony, and enormous tenderness for human frailty, Constant portrays
the ridiculous without ridicule--and, miraculously, sparks a light
of hope in the midst of the torment and suffering.
General
| Imprint: |
University of Nebraska Press
|
| Country of origin: |
United States |
| Series: |
European Women Writers |
| Release date: |
April 2006 |
| First published: |
April 2006 |
| Translators: |
Betsy Wing
|
| Authors: |
Paule Constant
|
| Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 10mm (L x W x T) |
| Format: |
Paperback - Trade / Trade / Trade
|
| Pages: |
182 |
| ISBN-13: |
978-0-8032-6441-0 |
| Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General & literary fiction >
Modern fiction
|
| LSN: |
0-8032-6441-0 |
| Barcode: |
9780803264410 |
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