The Shameful State. Sony Labou Tansi
THE SHAMEFUL STATE
A NOVEL
GLOBAL AFRICAN VOICES
Dominic Thomas, EDITOR
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THE
SHAMEFUL
STATE
A NOVEL
SONY LABOU TANSI
Translated by DOMINIC THOMAS
Foreword by ALAIN MABANCKOU
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
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Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
This book was originally published in French by Editions du Seuil under the title L’État Honteux copyright © 1981 Editions du Seuil © 2016 by Indiana University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sony Labou Tansi, author.
[L’État honteux. English]
The shameful state / Sony Labou Tansi ; translated by
Dominic Thomas ; foreword by Alain Mabanckou.
pages cm.—(Global African voices)
ISBN 978-0-253-01925-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-253-01932-5 (ebook)
I. Thomas, Dominic Richard David, translator. II. Title.
III. Series: Global African voices.
PQ3989.2.S64E813 2015
843'.914—dc23
2015021504
1 2 3 4 5 21 20 19 18 17 16
For AME LA YAO, H. LOPÈS, and U. TAM’SI
Together we shall fight
until freedom is no longer
a word buttered with sardines.
FOREWORD
THE SHAMEFUL STATE OR THE PORTRAIT OF THE AFRICAN MONARCH
Alain Mabanckou
Sony Labou Tansi (1947–1995) is widely acknowledged as one of Africa’s most talented authors. Although he died at a relatively young age, the singularity, creativity, and pioneering qualities of his novels and plays shaped a generation of literary production and continue to influence contemporary African literature. A cursory glance at the work of such important writers as Kossi Efoui (Togo) or Koffi Kwahulé (Ivory Coast), both of whom have also published novels and plays, reveals traces of this inspiration. Sony Labou Tansi’s creative energy was channeled in multiple directions, at times toward the Rocadu Zulu Theatre Company which he founded in the early 1980s, at others toward the six novels he wrote, all of which were published by the prestigious Éditions du Seuil.
Sony Labou Tansi burst onto the French and francophone literary scene in 1979 with his novel La Vie et demie (Life and a Half, IUP), featuring the emblematic figure of the immortal rebel Martial before whom the relentless efforts of the ruthless postcolonial dictator to liquidate him prove futile. This marked a significant turning point in francophone sub-Saharan African literature in a more general manner, bolstering the importance of the African dictatorship novel. Sony Labou Tansi’s political commitment and oppositional nature were the source of constant difficulties with the authorities, but also afforded him tremendous respect and the opportunity to engage with audiences in Africa and beyond that listened attentively to his words.
In his next novel, L’État honteux (The Shameful State), published in 1981, the figure of the rebel is eclipsed by the dictator, the despot, the African monarch, whose name is Colonel Martillimi Lopez. One day, all his ministers seek private audiences and hand in, one after the other, their letters of resignation, because they can no longer bear the idea of leaving “the country to the children of the children of our children” in this “shameful state.” The nation is on its knees, and they don’t want to be blamed. The irony is palpable in this unusual turn of events in which the very people who had the most benefitted from the power structure now become conscious of the country’s collapse, after having enriched themselves and enjoyed its spoils while the masses languished in poverty. The political