The Writings Of Camara Laye

by Adele King

132 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Eric]

I admire literary aficionados- call them critics if you wish - who go out of their way to write book-length studies on pertinent wordsmiths, especially when they are African writers! For me, Camara Laye has always been a fascinating writer; the Guinean writer actually published his world class early works before Achebe's Things fall apart. Laye wrote in French of course - before the English translations- and from the beginning it was clear that this was a scintillating literary talent.

All this and much more is documented, explained and highlighted here in this superb study by the author, King here. We see the trajectory of Laye's life from the very beginnings in colonial Guinea, to his studies and stay in metropolitan France as he storms the literary world. Laye's early life is brilliantly revisited in his first work, The African child, with its striations of the supernatural and child-like fears and emotions.

We are let into the arcane world of his father and mother, the latter apparently possessing some baffling powers too. The child is surrounded by communal love throughout and we see his progress
in school, and the horrors of circumcision! Why, the boy even experiences somewhat profound love with his childhood sweetheart, but he has to move onto higher things, to wit, education in the white man"s land.

Laye's fine powers of expression, the poetic undulations are obvious, even in the next major
work, The radiance of the King. However the critic, King has problems with certain (English) translations of Laye's works; she explains that some sections are poorly translated, or even made to look more prurient and sensational in the English translations, especially in The radiance of the King .

There can be no doubt that Dr King respects Laye a great deal as a writer, and she points out what a significant writer he was, and how admirers of his work did all they could to help him with his serious health problems which alas culminated in his early death quand meme. The author also examines Laye's other works, like The Guardian of the Word, and A dream of Africa. A beleaguered Laye, alas was to become disenchanted with the political situation in his country. We are also introduced to Laye's other shorter writings (stories).

King examines the writings of Laye, generally, his vision, his art, and much more. One can only conclude that this is an excellent study on Camara Laye, and his work...even before the author wrote another sequel (study)...

[Raphael Mokoena]

This is one of the books (monographs on African writers) that fired my love and appreciation for literary criticism. I feel - still believe - that this work is superb, focusing on a major African writer from Guinea, Camara laye. It is a painstaking work by an outstanding scholar. One gets to the heart of Laye and his literary works, thanks to this study; and the focus on his novel, The radiance of the King I read twice at go...I also learnt from this work how translations can affect text, comprehension etc