![]() ![]() I recently re-read this classic 10 years later and I still give the book the same rating this time around, because of the poignant writing. The first time I read this classic, it was assigned reading for an Anthropology class I took when I was a junior in college, back in 2011. Ramatoulaye hopes for a world where the best of old customs and new freedom can be combined.Ĭonsidered a classic of contemporary African women’s literature, So Long a Letter is a must-read for anyone interested in African literature and the passage from colonialism to modernism in a Muslim country.Įverybody and their grandma has read So Long A Letter. Angered by the traditions that allow polygyny, they inhabit a social milieu dominated by attitudes and values that deny them status equal to men. This semi-autobiographical account is a perceptive testimony to the plight of educated and articulate Muslim women. ![]() ![]() Addressed to a lifelong friend, Aissatou, it is a record of Ramatoulaye’s emotional struggle for survival after her husband betrayed their marriage by taking a second wife. The brief narrative, written as an extended letter, is a sequence of reminiscences-some wistful, some bitter-recounted by recently widowed Senegalese schoolteacher Ramatoulaye Fall. Written by award-winning African novelist Mariama Ba and translated from the original French, So Long a Letter has been recognized as one of Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20th Century. ![]()
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