Jazz et vin de palme

by Emmanuel Dongala

Emmanuel Dongala a dix-sept ans en 1958, quand le Congo devient une république indépendante. Dans huit longues nouvelles au rythme balancé et à l'humour corrosif, il fait revivre la Révolution rouge de Brazzaville, qu'il considère avec un profond pessimisme, et promène son blues dans les boîtes de jazz de New York, où il se repaît des sonorités inspirées de John Coltrane. Sous la naïveté burlesque des sujets, tels ces extraterrestres prenant possession de la planète et que seul l'enivrant vin de palme peut adoucir, nous sont livrées quelques-unes des plus belles pages sur la défaite du rêve des jeunes États africains, évoquée comme en écho par la tragédie d'un saxophoniste de génie en quête de l'absolu.

Genres: Short Stories, Africa, Fiction, African Literature, France, Literature, 20th Century

206 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Emmanuel Dongala born July 14, 1941 is a Congolese Chemist ,short story writer, novelist and playwright, schooled in Brazzaville , and studied in the United States where he earned a BA in Chemistry from Oberlin College and an MA from Rutgers University . He then left the United States for France , where he was awarded a PhD in Organic Chemistry. Upon his return to the Congo he worked as a teacher and dean until 1998, when he was forced to leave because of the civil war. Helped by his friend, the writer Philip Roth, Dongala now lives in the United States , where he teaches at Bard College and holds the Richard B. Fisher Chair in Natural Sciences.

Dongala, who writes in French and whose books have been translated into a dozen languages, has published four novels, a collection of short stories and a play. His collection of short stories, Jazz et Vin de Palme ( Jazz and Palm Wine) , published while the Congo was a Marxist-Leninist state, was banned because it satirised those in power. The ban was only lifted in 1990 after the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent collapse of the Congolese one-party state.

Dongala is the founder and former president of the National Association of Congolese Writers and the Congolese chapter of PEN. He also founded and led the theatre company, Le Théâtre de l'Eclair. His essays and articles have appeared in numerous major newspapers and magazines, including Le Monde, The New York Times, and Transition.

Dongala's novel Le Feu des Origines ( The Fires of Origins) , received the Grand Prix d'Afrique Noire and the Grand Prix de la Fondation de France. La Marseillaise described it as "a stunning novel…the art of Emmanuel Dongala is extreme…this novel, which plunges into the heart of reality, becomes legend." His novel, Johnny Mad Dog, was selected by the Los Angeles Times as one of its books of the year - a film adaptation was released in 2008. Questioned on his reasons for writing, Dongala answers “Why do people make love?”

A great African novel: inspired yet sober, wide-ranging yet written concisely, purely, without a superfluous word. . .a human history of an entire continent." - La Suisse on The Fire of Origins

In 1999 Emmanuel Dongala was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and in 2003, he was the winner of the prestigious Fonlon-Nichols Prize 2003 for literary excellence. His works have been translated into a dozen different languages.

Reviews

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories illustrating the absurdity of life in colonial Africa. My favorite was "Old Likibi's Trial" in which the people have been told that they have to modernize and give up their superstitions. This is why things are bad in Africa... because of your superstitions, says the leader. So they try to determine why the drought has gone on for so many years and can only determine that Likibi had asked the rain to stop on the day that his daughter got married so it must be his fault. Is this not another superstition? Yes but the authorities believe that they are being Scientific. Put Likibi on trial for the crime of stopping the rain.

[Manika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very scathing, dark and funny satire.

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from a Goodreads giveaway, so thank you so much to the organizers! This is a very short collection of short stories, most of which are set in postcolonial Congo and a couple in the United States in the 1960s, and I loved this book!

The stories set in Congo focus mostly on the establishment of the new, postcolonial government in the country and specifically on the red tape and hypocrisy of the government workers and the effects of this Red government on the regular people of the country. While the expected reaction to the stories, especially from the American readers, is most likely going to be the evils of Communism, I appreciated the fact that the author, who mentions the Soviet Union and China, Lenin and Mao, on more than one occasion, never points fingers at those countries as the source of the problems. What he does focus on is the government propaganda and its effects on the population.

The stories set in Congo also explore in detail the uneasy relationship between the new ideas of the "scientific socialism" of the "one and only party" and traditional beliefs of the people, specifically witchcraft and witch doctors. Dongala shows just how deeply those traditional beliefs are rooted in the minds and hearts of the people, to the point that even the members of the new government, newly appointed leaders of the state, have difficulty letting go of them and embracing the purely logical, rational, science-based approach to life.

The last two stories of the book are set in New York and are, on the surface, of less political nature. The very last story, "A Love Supreme" focuses purely on jazz and its power over people in the 1960s. I don't like jazz personally, but I love classical music and opera. Thus, while I couldn't identify with the strong emotions felt by the characters toward jazz, I could easily identify with the fact of having a deep and overpowering connection with music. In this last story, the author seems to replace political and social issues with the idea of Art supreme... until the last sentence. I found this to be the most beautifully written of all the stories in this collection. At certain points, I realized that I was enjoying the language itself and thus reading an entire paragraph without knowing what it actually said, so much I was focused on individual word choices and how they fit together.

The story that I enjoyed the most was "The Ceremony". The story reads a lot like Voltaire's "Candide" and I actually laughed out loud a couple of times. It is told from the "naïve" point of view of a guard at a manure factory with big dreams of advancing in the ranks and it explores the idea of "some animals" being "more equal than others". Dongala writes it with humor and subtle sarcasm that develops into occasional outbursts of bitterness and finally cry for help.

The story that I enjoyed the least was actually the title story, "Jazz and Palm Wine". While I appreciated the idea of different countries, with different political and social systems, coming together to solve a common crisis, I didn't enjoy the sci-fi element in this particular setting. The story read somewhat like the movie "Signs".

Overall, I found this book extremely well written. The stories are unique and each one engaging in its own manner. But all of them are thought-provoking and quite relevant to what is happening in the U.S. today. It is a very short and fast read and I highly recommend this book.

[Ocean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this so much. African LITterature really is something else...
This is a collection of short stories, most which are set in Congo. I loved how satire was used to discuss neo-colonialism and the clash that inevitably happens when one's culture and ideology is forced onto others. Dongala's writing is impeccable and most of his characters endearing.
The book is both funny and tragic but never boring, it's very atmospheric..
I'm looking forward to reading more from the author.

[Tutankhamun18 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories that were exploring interesting ideas of culutre, neocolonialism, colonialism, agency, tradition, bureaucracy, corrupt governments and the people.

My two favourites were Old Likibi’s Trial, which follows the old healer of the tribe being put on trial after stopping the rain despite the fact that the new government does not believe in his powers anymore, and the title story, Jazz and Palm Wine, in which aliens come to Earth and are met with Jazz and Palm Wine.

“Have you forgotten that the word "tribe" no longer exists since our Revolution was redirected, that it has been deleted, re-moved, crossed out, wiped away, erased, extirpated, and excluded from our vocabulary, and that since that salutary decision was made the results have been clear, and the country is doing much better because tribalism itself vanished along with the word. We are here searching for a solution to the main contradiction that exists in this country of ours and you, and all you can do is speak to us using a word that no longer even exists!”

Some of these stories felt a little flat in that they apruptly ended or even had a meandering plot that didn’t really go anywhere. Ultimately, when good very good and when bad just quite boring.

[Brian Grover · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dongala is a prominent African author, and I was sucked in by the blurb "Jazz, aliens, and witchcraft collide in this collection of short stories." Well, they really don't, and I was mostly underwhelmed here. It's not without merit - A Day In The Life Of Augustine Amaya is heartbreaking, and Old Likibi's Trial is equal parts clever and hilarious. The rest of these stories just didn't engage me, although it's certainly fair to say that my lack of knowledge on Africa and African authors plays a part there. Two and a half stars.

[Sierra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have liked this more if it weren't a short story collection, I think—some of the stories themselves are very good, but I always have difficulty getting excited about short works. Still a classic, and very interesting.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely good short story collection. The best stories dealt with the clash between tradition and communist regimes, and have the kind of horrifying absurdity I tend to associate with Russian literature.

[Vanessa Wolosz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get that this is primarily sociopolitical satire, but even so, I found it heavy-handed/repetitive in its messaging. The sci-fi titular story was super fun though, and I found the stories of the second-half of the book more compelling as the surrealist pieces that they are.

[Chema Caballero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colección de varios relatos. Los primeros contienen una crítica al régimen comunista de la República del Congo, los dos últimos van de jazz y no me han gustado tanto

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

For LIT: Science Fiction...
** I only read the title story, which I really liked.

[Alisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

ONLY READ "THE MAN."

[Aet Kubits · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le but de ma méditation par le moyen de la musique est de m’ouvrir à Dieu, c’est-à-dire-à-tout, à l’amour du monde, des hommes, m’ouvrir au soleil, aux vibrations, à l’énergie cosmique.

[Karine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5*

[Andrea Poletto]

Exquisitely written, funny and caustic at the same time.
A real milestone in African literature.

[Vega De la lyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

La littérature africaine est un oiseau migrateur. Emmanuel Dongala nous offre son Monde sous forme de huit nouvelles en renforçant l’idée de l’Afrique avait bien ses mystères.
Kuvezo et son ami Kali Tchikati, la pauvre Amaya, le vieil Ikounga et Mr Likibi et pleins d’autres personnages qui nous montrent le mode de vie des habitants de ce continent, une société phallocrate entre tradition et progrès scientifique.
"A love Supreme" de John Coltrane, un morceau à écouter !