Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French) Review

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Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French) ReviewFirst, it must be noted that this Francophone novel has two different English translations: one by Frank Wynne (published by Heinemann in the UK), and one by Carrol Coates (published by the Univ. Press of Virginia in the US). I borrowed both from the library and read the first ten pages of each to determine which to proceed with. I found the Wynne translation to be far more readable, and perhaps equally importantly, the typesetting of the Coates edition is atrocious, far too dense and hard to read. Therefore, although the basic content of the two versions is the same, my comments are based on the Wynne/UK edition of the book. However, the Coates edition does have a brief and informative afterword that's worthwhile.
This is the third of Kourouma's novels to appear in English, following The Suns of Independence and Monnew. Taken together, the three books form a full-bodied portrait of West Africa from the time of colonialism up to the present. (His latest book, Allah is Not Obliged, is about a child soldier in Liberia). Here, the story is told through a traditional storyteller/praise singer engaged by Koyaga, president for life of a fictional West African nation. The storyteller and his fool apprentice are to tell the president's life story, warts and all, over the course of a six-day ritual, for a reason not revealed until the final pages. The tale that emerges is a wicked satire of post-colonial African despotism. Like many writers, Kourouma has fictionalized the targets of his outrage, although those familiar with modern African history will be able to spot Sékou Touré (Guinea), King Hassan II (Morocco), Bokassa (CAR), Houphonouet-Boigny (Cote d'Ivoire), and Mobutu Sese Seko (Zaire) amongst the various leaders Koyaga visits for advice in one lengthy section. Born in and exiled from Cote d'Ivoire, Kourouma lived in France, Cameroon, Algeria, and Togo, and has modeled Koyaga on the Togolese dictator Gnassingbé Eyadema (who died earlier this year and was succeeded by his son following some very dubious elections in April).
Koyaga's life story is mostly as one would expect, mythical beginnings, leading to a distinguished career in the French colonial armies serving in Vietnam (as Kourouma himself did), leading to the inevitable military coup, oceans of offspring, and lifelong rule. And, as anyone who follows Africa could guess, there's plenty of corruption, torture, and tragedy to follow, all backed by the Western powers seeking to win the Cold War. And when the Cold War ends, and Koyaga is confronted by demands for Structural Adjustment Programs and the like, he must scramble to keep the disaffected youth from joining with returned elite exiles to overthrow his rule. Kourouma is clearly angry and bitter at what Africa became after independence, and he does yeoman work in bearing witness to this without ever becoming strident or editorial. The main flaw is that it is a rather lengthy work (there is a long section which digresses into the life of Koyaga's right-hand man), and can be a bit exhausting. Yet it remains a great deal more readable than a much African fiction in translation. Those with a strong interest in modern African literature will obviously want to check it out, and anyone with a strong interest in Togo should have a look as well.Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French) OverviewCharacterized as "the African Voltaire," Ahmadou Kouroumagarnered enormous critical and popular praise upon the 1998 release of his thirdnovel, En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages. Kourouma received the Prix desTropiques, among other prestigious prizes, for that book, and the French editionwent on to sell 100,000 copies.Carrol F. Coates'stranslation, Waiting for the Vote of the Wild Animals, introduces English-languageaudiences to Kourouma's irreverent view of the machinations of the African dictatorswho played the West against the East during the thirty years of the cold war.Profiting from western financial support, the dictators built palaces, shrines, andhunting preserves for their personal gratification as they paraded about withnumerous mistresses, marabouts, and advisers. In the style of a sèrè who sings thepraises of the thirty-year career of the master hunter and president Koyaga (afictionalized Gnassingbé Eyadema of Togo) readers are treated to a brief overview ofthe French colonization of the "Naked people," hunters in West African mountaincountry, followed by the account of Koyaga's assumption of power through treachery,assassination, and sorcery. In an interview Kourouma noted the Togolese assumptionthat if the people did not turn out to vote for Eyadema in the democratic electionsfollowing the cold war, the wild animals would come out of the forest to vote forhim. The novel ends with an apocalyptic stampede, although the animals are probablyfleeing a bush conflagration rather than running to the polls.

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