| Title | : | Xala (African writers series ; 175) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0435901753 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780435901752 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 113 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1973 |
Xala (African writers series ; 175) Reviews
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Needing a book starting with the letter X for an A to Z title challenge, I selected Ousmane Sembene's Xala. Last year as I focused on reading books by women of color from around the globe, my books by men of color were lacking. Looking back I think I read less than five, so reading more men of color is a goal of mine for 2018. Xala, the Wolof word for impotence, takes readers to Senegal. It is a scathing satire of the current state of post colonial Senegalese and European relations as well as on polygamy and an interesting, quick read. As I am currently on route to a vacation destination, this review, as well as those for the rest of the week will be short, collected thoughts. I hope to return to my regular reviewing next week.
Xala, which later became a film of the same name, takes readers to post independent Senegal. Senegalese struggle to gain key posts in society because the French still believe it is their right to hold on to these claims as well as the past. There is a fight for whether French or Wolof is the country's official language, with the younger generation more willing to assert themselves as independent Africans. The generational gap plays a key role in the novella, with lead protagonist and businessman El Hadji viewed as a test case for the entire plot. El Hadji is a respected businessman and member of the Dakar chamber of commerce. Recently he afforded himself and his first wife a pilgrimage to Mecca, earning the moniker of El Hadji. Yet, despite being a leading member of post colonial society and a good Muslim, El Hadji is facing a midlife crisis. His two wives are approaching middle age and his children are becoming teenagers and young adults, facing the prospect of marriage themselves. So El Hadji does what all good Muslims do at this stage of their lives: he takes on a third wife who is the same age as his oldest children.
Throwing the wedding of the year, El Hadji enters into a third marriage. His two wives feel nothing but shame because they have daughters as old as this new toy of their husband's. El Hadji's oldest daughter Rama is embarrassed. She is against polygamy and old enough to marry, and readers discover later on that she is engaged to a doctor as the couple look forward to a happy life together sans polygamy. When El Hadji goes to consummate his new marriage, he comes down with xala. This is not limited to his new wife but to his first two wives as well. Rather than being the talk of the town and a respectable businessman, El Hadji becomes the ridicule of those around him and loses all of his business contacts and is forced to liquidate his assets and practically declare bankruptcy. His family is humiliated, used to a life of luxury. If only there is cure for the xala.
Sembene includes photographs from his film of the same name in the edition of the book that I read. I found his account of post colonial Senegal to be engaging and informative as I read this novel in little time. This story was eye opening to me because I usually read books on contemporary African culture which assert women's rights. During the 1960s, women such as Rama were first demanding change but had not yet made inroads in society. Polygamy was still rampant in Muslim cultures, yet modern, university educated women demanded that this practice be stopped. This is no more evident than in this account as to gain prominence in society, El Hadji takes on a third wife to gain notoriety in society, only to be scorned by his wives and older children, and later his business contacts. From cases like these, it appeared that polygamy practices were dwindling in Africa as they became a burden from a financial sense as well as a shame for older first wives who were now educated and demanding rights in a now independent society.
With harder letters like X completed, I am looking forward to my A to Z title challenge this year. I have interesting books from authors from around the globe planned for this challenge, and I hope to complete both this and the A to Z author challenge as the year moves on. Xala ended up being a thought provoking account of life in post colonial Africa and a reminder to me to read more books by men of color going forward. I hope to revisit the work of Sembene, either in print or film form, and return to Africa in my reading as the year progresses.
4 stars -
Ha valaki azt hitte, hogy az afrikai országok függetlenedésével minden gond meg van oldva, annak itt a válasz. Mert az a helyzet, Szenegálban is úgy van, hogy ha valakinek hirtelen egy Mercedest tolnak a farpofái alá, akkor annak jó eséllyel elmegy az esze. Pedig El Hadzsival, úgy néz ki, nincs semmi gond: a fiatal állam üdvöskéje ő, nagykereskedő, aki számolatlanul szórhatja a pénzt – most például úgy dönt, hogy befektet egy harmadik feleségbe. Csak hát az van, hogy a nászéjszakán idősödő úriemberünk férfiereje csődöt mond. Az persze egyértelmű, hogy ha egy idősödő úriember férfierejével baj van, annak egyetlen oka lehet: valaki hala-t, azaz átkot mondott rá. Hisz mi más akadályozhatná meg egy férfiember vérkeringését abban, hogy a megfelelő ingerekre a megfelelő helyen megfelelő állapotváltozást idézzen elő, nem igaz? Csak valami átok lehet a ludas. Így hát El Hadzsi egyre mélyebbre merül a különböző átokűző praktikák, kenceficék, mágikus szövegek világába, amiből rögtön ki is derül, hogy hiába húznak rá kétsoros angol öltönyt, El Hadzsi csak babonás ember marad.
Kicsit csikorog ez a szöveg, de kellemes olvasmány. Azt hiszem, azért, mert Ousmane képes ennek a részben muszlim, részben animista világnak az egzotikumát úgy bemutatni, hogy közben ismerősnek is érezzük – hisz akárhogy is, egyetemes a téma: az emberi gyarlóság és butaság. Érdekes a cselekmény, érdekesek a szereplők, néha enyhén programszerű ugyan, de legalább érdekesen az. A helyenként komikus-szatirikus máz mögött ott van az afrikai államok tragédiája: hogy a gyarmatosítók távoztával mind gazdasági, mind kulturális értelemben fel kell fedezniük magukat, és ez bizony marhára nem könnyű. Mintha úgy kéne megtanulniuk úszni, hogy hopp, egyszer csak belehajítják őket a folyóba. Olyan világban élnek, ahol a törzsi szabályok már nem érvényesek – de ha a törzsi hagyományokat mindenestül elvetik, akkor talán a gyökereiket vágják el.
Ui.: Bár tudnám, a borítóra milyen megfontolásból választottak képet valami venezuelai szappanoperából. -
This is a very well written satire set in 1970's Senegal just after it gained independence from France. Ousmane Sembene takes a sharp stab at French Colonialism and it's aftermath, and especially at native Sengalese "puppet businessmen" who continue to take economic advantage of their fellow countrymen. El Hadji was one of these men and the story focuses on him and his three wives. Shortly after marrying his third wife he finds that he has Xala (temporary impotence). Most of the novel is a humorous account of him trying to find out who caused his Xala, trying to find a cure, and it's effect on his personal life and business.
The author, Ousmane Sembene, was a talented man. He was a film producer/director, a screenwriter, an actor, and a novelist. He is best known for his 1960 novel, God's Bits of Wood. -
Je n'ai pas aimé un roman francophone d'Afrique subsaharienne, encore. Pour ce livre, il s'agit de corruption gouvernementale, de polygamie et d'impuissance. La classe moyenne, pas les colonialistes plus, est devenue les exploiteurs du peuple sénégalais. Pour moi, il est plutôt intéressant de lire sur les cultures qui sont si différentes de la mienne. C'est comme si je suis dans un nouveau monde. Je n'ai pas seulement lu ce livre ... J'ai aussi vu le film. J'étais très confuse parce que la langue changeait entre le français et la langue sénégalais, le wolof, très souvent. Mais c'était un peu intéressant, je suppose.
Traduit en anglais:
I have not liked a sub-Saharan African francophone novel, yet. For this book, it is about government corruption, polygamy, and impotence. The middle class, not the colonialists anymore, became the exploiters of the Senegalian people. To me, it's rather interesting to read about cultures that are so different from mine. It's like I'm in a new world. I did not only read this book ... I also saw the film. I was very confused because the language changed between French and the Senegalian language, Wolof, very often. But it was a little interesting, I guess. -
This was a short book with some very humorous parts but overall I think the story was a bit strange. Maybe it was the translation, I'm not sure.
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Xala means sexual impotency. In the book, it refers to a curse that leaves a man unable to, in crude terms, get it up. The protagonist is El Hadji Abdou Kader Beye, a businessman who appears to have taken over the French spaces post independence in the country. But wearing European clothes and eating with a fork and knife does not mean that he has forgotten his roots. He compensates by practicing polygamy and neglecting his family.
The trouble starts when Abdou Kader Beye enters his third marriage. His wives and children are upset but he goes ahead with it nevertheless. But it is all in vain. He soon finds out he cannot consummate his marriage and figures out that there is a curse on him. Running from pillar to post, Abdou Kader Beye tries to find a solution and the culprit who has cursed him. Meanwhile, his business suffers and he is on a downward spiral.
I give an extra star for the originality behind the story. But a whole story revolving around a man's inability to get it up is really, really not interesting to me. I actually didn't care if he could have sex or not. Besides, the fact that he was a misogynist pig just made me giggle at his struggles. His wives, especially Adja Awa Astou (first wife) were annoying with their servility and their dependence and competition. That's exactly what patriarchy wants - women fight among themselves to treat the men like kings.
The ending came out of nowhere really. Not very well-plotted but nevertheless held my interest. It would have been much better if the female characters were better developed. This remains a man's tale in a man's world. But I might try other books by Ousmane Sembène. -
This was a quick, enjoyable read, set in the Senegal of the 1970s. Post-colonial, funny, a man marrying his third wife but then when he can't perform, the entire community is there to offer an opinion or (less often) to help him undo the curse (the xala). It was interesting to see some concepts of Islam applied (the "I get up to four wives" idea) next to weddings where everyone gets drunk. His daughter rejects polygamy despite being Muslim, she is clearly a "modern" woman and is reprimanded accordingly.
As far as my African reading project goes, this was a good choice because it is a native author. It is translated from the French. -
Xala means sexual impotence in Wolof, a language spoken in Senegal. That is what happens to the main character, the business man El Hadji Abdou Kader Beye, when he take a third wife. He thinks it is caused by a curse, and tries to find a cure for it.
I think this is an interesting satire on colonialism and what happened after that period in Senegal. It’s perhaps not laugh out loud funny, but I thought it was a good read anyway. The story was made into a film which Sambène wrote and directed as well, but I think that wasn’t as good as the novel is. -
Sembène's 'Xala' is nowhere near as good as his
God's Bits of Wood but when one is working with a mere 100 pages, it's still impressive how much he manages to pack in of postcolonial life and postcolonial fall. This is satire as it's meant to be: overt, unafraid, punching up without punching down, and ending in such a sinister manner as to confirm that, while the story may be humorous, the stakes are very real, and a world where the El Hadjis of any skin color or creed failed more often would be the better for it. There is nothing subtle about any of it, especially at the end during its breed of danse macabre, but if one's aim is to both inform and disturb, as Sembène's likely was, it's far better to be a Swift than a Wilde. The world is turning quickly, and tearing down the whites in the majority of places isn't enough if white capitalism lives on in its invasive species' place and whatever trade offs for fame and glory aren't enough when one's comeuppance comes a callin'.
Much like GBoW, one can tell Sembène is primarily a filmmaker. Inferiority translates more easily than in most novels to scenes that can be conceivable, if not easily, staged, and certain characteristics are little more than than well drawn ciphers made to display in overt physicality of person a particular facet of the narrative's plot, thematic context, or motivations. The social mechanics and cultural context for this particular type of polygamy are laid out without sensationalism, a valuable treatment in an age that continues to muck about in Orientalism combined with no small amount of genocide ideation. It would be boring for any slavering white looking for more exotic fanfare in their literary far, and it would likely make them squirm if they were the average upper middle class white male who is willing to satirize and punch down on everything save his pure and immaculate dick. For such a person, the ending scene of ultimately retribution would be borderline terrifying, but on the level of midlife crisis and utter futility of life, not bombastic, racist caricatures. I know from watching a documentary that Sembène has had his works banned by the Senegalese government at least once, and after reading 'Xala', I can imagine how uncomfortable those up top must've been.
Sembène is an author I would certainly read more of if there were simply more of his works to read. I haven't watching any of his movies (there were clips of some of them in the documentary), but I'm very lazy about getting around to doing leisure things that don't involve books or Lets Plays or my current gaming obsession, so I doubt that'll happen anytime soon. The best I can do is keeping diving into Senegalese and other African literature, as I'm still woefully imbalanced this year, although devoting myself to cleaning out the longest staying residents on my shelf has likely bloated up my Eurocentrism. In either case, I'm narrowing in on the last handful of works, and ideally I'll be done with them by the end of next month or so, thereupon free to roam in less coordinate passages. Until then, on with the rest of the schedule. -
Considering that Xala was written in the 1970s, it is a surprisingly frank discussion of male & female societal, marital, & sexual relationships in the days of post-colonial Senegal (which gained independence in 1960). It's a dark satire, a harsh parable that shows the clash between old, traditional African ways and the newer, post-colonial, 'Europeanized' ways. For such a short book, it touches on many themes: sexuality, religion, business, corruption, language, gender roles, societal levels & roles, traditions vs. new ideas, questions as to whether or not a former colony is really 'free' from its former occupiers, etc.... Apparently, the book was also made into a movie in the 1970s & the book includes some black & white stills from the movie throughout, giving some nice visuals to the story. I've read very little African literature & am currently working on a 'continental' reading challenge; this novella has given me an interesting peek into an area of the world about which I know very little. 3.5 stars.
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I loved this book, it's like Kafka's "The Trial" but with a very satisfying ending. The main character gets a Xala(an impotent curse) put on him and the whole novel is about him running around trying to cure the XALA, run his business and figure out who put the Xala on him. Will El-hadji gain his manhood back in time to consummate his marriage with his third wife? who put the Xala on him? why did he get the Xala in the first place? read the novel to find out.
It's hilarious but insightful at the same time, its gives you insight into post-colonial Senegal along with all the family politics within a polygamous marriage. -
After close to three centuries as a French colony, Senegal gained its independence in 1960. This novella was published 13 years later. A wealthy, self-important Senegalese businessman in Dakar suffers impotence (xala) after taking a third wife, permitted by Muslim tradition. This triggers a downward spiral in every aspect of his life. Perhaps it's an allegory for life in post-colonial Senegal, which has its freedom but without many modern technologies or means of self-sufficient production, although the protagonist El Hadji is no innocent.
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Well that took a turn
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I've been a fan of Ousmane Sembène's films for a while now, but this is my first attempt at reading his fiction, and his fiction feels structured like a film to me. Each character could so easily be translated to the screen, and each scene could easily fit within the frame of a movie camera.
And it's quite funny. Unlike a lot of other satires, its humor transcends its cultural context. Sembène, even with his impeccable anti-colonial credentials, is not above mocking his own people-- in fact, crony capitalists might be even worse when they're exploiting their own after decades of colonialism.
It's a short, funny little volume, and it made a damn fine introduction to the literature of Francophone West Africa for me. -
A slender but horrific denunciation of corporate greed in post-colonial Senegal. Money compromises Hadji's sexual identity, and in turn sexuality compromises his money. Sembene was not a writer of flourish - maybe something was lost in the English translation - but his storytelling is crisp. Amusing dialogue. The book's conclusion is terrifying.
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absurde ?!
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What starts out looking like a story about a man and his failing manhood (boohoo poor thing, taking a third wife for the 'honour' of it was too much) - turns into a much larger story of african 'businessmen' and their practises.
I blame the yellowed pages and tiny writing for it taking me years to read this. -
Xala chronicles a man's search for a cure to his temporary impotency while revealing the workings of the economic and social system of Senegal.
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Reedsy -
A brief, but interesting and entertaining look at one man's downfall. Worth the time for some African myth within contemporary African culture. I'll definitely keep the author in mind for future reads.
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This was for a class. It was short and pretty humorous at times, but definitely not the kind of thing I would have picked up on my own.
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It will entertain you and keep you captivated to the end! One of my favorite books!
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Wow, funny, shocking, and informative all at the same time. You will laugh, cringe, and gasp simultaneously. I learned a lot about Senegal and polygamy; man, you don’t want that kind of drama.
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Holy moly, wat een boek! Satire, ironie en het carnavaleske in koloniale context. Mij heb je.
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Cette fin mérite une étoile en moins.
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Well, that was something...
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2,5 ⭐️
Ce roman me laisse perplexe a bien des égards !
Si l’on reconnait une caractéristique commune aux récits de cette époque pour sa critique du colonialisme et le simulacre du pouvoir étatique indépendant c’est surtout la mise en exergue du mode de vie superficiel de la société urbaine de l’Afrique de l’ouest (ici en l’occurrence le Sénégal).
Le style de l’auteur laisse le lecteur néanmoins pantois (littéralement ! - je vous laisse pour cela lire le passage mettant en scène le personnage principal et son banquier quand le besoin d’un prêt supplémentaire se fait sentir !!)
Si la manœuvre qui est de parodier ces indigènes qui s’approprient le style européen est comprise - en rapport que ce mode de vie n’est pas scrupuleusement adapté aux contraintes culturelles, environnementales africaines la tournure semble trop… énorme… on reconnaît tout de même certaines situations clairement comiques et l’auteur lui-même prend bien soin de se moquer.
En somme, cette histoire c’est le résultat du karma qui ne dort pas ! Ou comment être dans l’incapacité de prendre du recul sous le poids des étiquettes et convenances.
Pssst on en parle de la fin de ce récit ? C’est assez inattendu !?! -
Incredible. Obviously they're so different, but after finishing this I thought of BREAKING BAD and THE SOPRANOS as well as GOODFELLAS--tales whose central figures are absolutely craven and morally bankrupt, whose story we follow to learn something about their society but who we aren't meant to be in sympathy with. It works better for being more clear here: El Hajdi is a 'businessman' whose main interest, as with his whole cohort, is taking over the crumbs the French leave behind for their own enrichment. Sembene sets up the world immediately within this context before moving on to El Hajdi's imminent third wedding, one he's been roped into by his lust and vanity, and which draws his ego into overcommittments that he can't even enjoy as on his wedding night he is cursed with impotence (the xala of the title). I never know who is responsible for anything in a mystery novel, but here I absolutely intuited the party to blame, and it couldn't be more perfect. El Hajdi frantically tries to overturn his xala, neglecting everything else until it's all stripped from him in fantastic fashion. An incredibly perceptive, incisive book, a mix of carefully observed satire, morality play, and absurd tragicomedy. All in an economical 102 pages!!
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Erectile dysfunction, a mid-life crisis third wife, and the downfall of a prominent “businessman” in post-colonial Senegal.
Outside of Sembène Ousmane’s satirical target of the new Senegalese middle-upper-class that grew through continued exploitation of the masses after independence, I liked the view of urban polygyny provided through the relationship of El Hadji Abdou Kader Beye’s first two wives. How do the wives feel about the introduction of another? How does their Islamic faith (or lack of it) influence their emotions? What concerns them in a polygynous union, and what doesn’t (that I might thought would)?
The “quest for a cure” plot reminded me a lot of Adam Ashforth’s “Madumo: A Man Bewitched” but in a drastically different post-colonial and religious context. And a lot more playful as well. -
If "Well that escalated quickly" were a book!
In 103 pages, "Xala" journeys readers through the quirky misfortunes of it's main character El Hadji. Set in 1970's Senegal, Sembène busily bounces the reader between the urban equatorial city of Dakar to the vivid, rural, and, dynamic, beauty of the city's outskirts. The willing traveler arrives at questions about how far the adoption of Western modernization and neo-colonial practices can distance the bourgeoisie from tradition and even the occult. Sembène provides a cautionary tale about identity and toxic manhood propped up by faith. Ultimately, it tells the story of a nation trying to untether its soul from and reckon with the long lasting effects of colonial rule.
