Laye, Camara,

(Upper Guinean, 1928– )

Born into a devout Muslim family deeply rooted in Malinke culture, Laye left his village to study engineering in France. This was the beginning of many exiles which become the subject of his three novels. Written in French, his first autobiographical novel, The African Child (1953; also translated as The Dark Child), broke new ground in the development of the novel in French-speaking Africa. Clearly and eloquently written, it is an idealistic celebration of rural life. The Radiance of the King (1956), is the story of a destitute white man in unnamed African territory. Desperately trying to embrace the values of the African people, he is constantly thwarted by his inability to cast off western civilization. His nightmarish third novel, A Dream of Africa (1966), finds the narrator, Fatoman, returning to Guinea after a six-year absence.

Chinua Achebe, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Abdulrazak Gurnah  EW