Yambo Ouologuem

Book excerpt: From the appearance of Bound to Violence in the late 1960s, Yambo Ouologuem has been one of Africa's most controversial writers. For some critics, the young Malian signaled an entirely new direction for African letters: a fiercely courageous postindependence literature. For others, his novel revealed too much, bringing to light horrors many preferred to ignore. Today Ouologuem is credited with delivering the final death-blow to Senghorian negritude, thus clearing the way for a more honest literature divested of the longing for a false African past. This book gathers the most important essays on Ouologuem from critics on three continents. Wise also includes his recent interviews with the reclusive author and a companion essay on Ouologuem's present life among the Tidjaniya Muslims of northern Mali.