Shadows of your black memory /

Ndongo-Bidyogo, Donato, 1950-

Shadows of your black memory / Donato Ndongo ; translated and with a postscript by Michael Ugarte. - 1st ed. - Chicago, IL : Swan Isle Press, 2007. - vii, 179 p. ; 24 cm.

"Originally published in Spanish as Las tinieblas de tu memoria negra, c1987"--T.p. verso.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-179).

"In this bildungsroman, Donato Ndongo masterfully exposes the cultural fissures of his native land. "Spanish Guinea" is a heated, sensual landscape with exotic animals and trees, ancient rituals, ghosts, saints, and sinners. We come to know the narrator's extended family, the people of his village, merchants, sorcerers, and Catholic priests; we see them critically at times, even humorously, yet always with compassion and a magical dignity." "Set during the last years of Spanish rule in Equatorial Guinea, Shadows of Your Black Memory presents the voice of a young African man reflecting on his childhood. Through the idealistic eyes of the nameless protagonist, Donato Ndongo portrays the cultural conflicts between Africa and Spain, ancestral worship competing with Catholicism, and tradition giving way to modernity. The backdrop of a nation moving toward a troubled independence parallels the young man's internal struggle to define his own identity."--BOOK JACKET.

9780974888125 (hardcover : alk. paper) 0974888125 (hardcover : alk. paper)

2007033981


Young men--Equatorial Guinea--Fiction.
Africans--Equatorial Guinea--Fiction.
Religion and culture--Equatorial Guinea--Fiction.


Equatorial Guinea--Fiction.

PQ8619.N363 / T5613 2007

863/.64