Synopsis
French Nobel Laureate Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio spent much of his childhood in Africa, and some of his most beautiful, haunting, and lyrical novels revolve around the relationship between European and African culture. ONITSHA opens in 1948 as a young boy named Fintin and his mother travel by ship to Nigeria to meet the father who left when Fintin was an infant to work in the United Africa Company. In the coast town of Onitsha, the family struggles to understand each other after their long separation, and Fintin finds himself drawn into the exotic culture of his new home. Tensions begin to rise as Fintin and his mother question the racial and economic injustices of Onitsha, a taboo topic among the ruling white upper class. Le Clezio writes with his customary blend of poetic and realist styles, wonderfully conjuring both the atmosphere of Africa and the changes within Fintin's heart and mind.
Young Fintan and his Italian mother travel to Africa to live with Fintan's British father, and we see the relationship between his reunited parents from the boy's point of view.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 1997-04-01 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Length: | 206 pages | | Height: | 8.3 in | | Width: | 6.3 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 15.2 oz |
Publisher's Note
Onitsha tells the story of Fintan, a youth who travels to Africa in 1948 with his Italian mother to join the English father he has never met. Fintan is initially enchanted by the exotic world he discovers in Onitsha, a bustling city prominently situated on the eastern bank of the Niger River. But gradually he comes to recognize the intolerance and brutality of the colonial system. His youthful point of view provides the novel with a notably direct, horrified perspective on racism and colonialism. A startling account - and indictment - of colonialism, Onitsha is also a work of clear, forthright prose that ably portrays both colonial Nigeria and a young boy's growing outrage.
Industry Reviews
"An uncharacteristically accessible and dramatic narrative about Europeans in Africa from one of the avatars of the French New Wave novel....The most surprising work of Le Clézio's long career, and one of his best."
Kirkus (03/01/1997)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
