
Doomi Golo-The Hidden Notebooks
The Hidden Notebooks
Boubacar Boris Diop(Author)
Michigan State University Press
Published on 1. November 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
307 pages
978-1-61186-214-0 (ISBN)
Description
The first novel to be translated from Wolof to English, Doomi Golo-The Hidden Notebooks is a masterful work that conveys the story of Nguirane Faye and his attempts to communicate with his grandson before he dies. With a narrative structure that beautifully imitates the movements of a musical piece, Diop relates Faye's trauma of losing his only son, Assane Tall, which is compounded by his grandson Badou's migration to an unknown destination. While Faye feels certain that his grandson will return one day, he also is convinced that he will no longer be alive by then. Faye spends his days sitting under a mango tree in the courtyard of his home, reminiscing and observing his surroundings. He speaks to Badou through his seven notebooks, six of which are revealed to the reader, while the seventh, the "Book of Secrets," is highly confidential and reserved for Badou's eyes only. In the absence of letters from Badou, the notebooks form the only possible means of communication between the two, carrying within them tunes and repetitions that give this novel its unusual shape: loose and meandering on the one hand, coherent and tightly interwoven on the other. Translated by Vera Wuelfing-Leckie and El Hadji Moustapha Diop.
Reviews / Votes
"One of the best writers working in Africa today, Diop has taken the daring step of writing a novel in Wolof, his native tongue. An old man writes a series of notebooks to explain the cockeyed history of his country to his grandson, but the grandson has left Senegal and may never read the notebooks. The result is an innovative, exuberant narrative where Senegalese folktales bang up against postmodern uncertainties, altering the form of the European novel. "-Charles J. Sugnet, professor emeritus, University of Minnesota
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
East Lansing, MI
United States
Edition type
Abridged edition
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 227 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
404 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61186-214-0 (9781611862140)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1946, Boubacar Boris Diop is widely regarded as one of the most important novelists and intellectuals in Africa.
Vera Wuelfing-Leckei received an M.A. Classics and Modern Languages from Oxford University. She has translated numerous works from English to German, including an abridged version of Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. Currently, she is translating "Parole chantee et communication social chez les Wolof du Senegal" by Momar Cisse.
El Hadji Moustapha Diop has translated several published works, including those of Boubacar Boris Diop and Ousmane Sembene. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student of French Studies at the University of Western Ontario, focusing on Francophone postcolonial studies.
Vera Wuelfing-Leckei received an M.A. Classics and Modern Languages from Oxford University. She has translated numerous works from English to German, including an abridged version of Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. Currently, she is translating "Parole chantee et communication social chez les Wolof du Senegal" by Momar Cisse.
El Hadji Moustapha Diop has translated several published works, including those of Boubacar Boris Diop and Ousmane Sembene. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student of French Studies at the University of Western Ontario, focusing on Francophone postcolonial studies.
Content
Contents
Part 1. Nguirane Faye
Notebook 1. The Tale of the Ashes
Notebook 2. The Book of the Winds
Notebook 3. Playing in the Dark
Notebook 1. The Tale of the Ashes
Notebook 4. Ninki Nanka, a Fiction
Notebook 5. Brief Escapades
Notebook 1. The Tale of the Ashes
Notebook 3. Playing in the Dark
Notebook 6. Farewell Badou
Part 2. I, Ali Kaboye!
Part 1. Nguirane Faye
Notebook 1. The Tale of the Ashes
Notebook 2. The Book of the Winds
Notebook 3. Playing in the Dark
Notebook 1. The Tale of the Ashes
Notebook 4. Ninki Nanka, a Fiction
Notebook 5. Brief Escapades
Notebook 1. The Tale of the Ashes
Notebook 3. Playing in the Dark
Notebook 6. Farewell Badou
Part 2. I, Ali Kaboye!