Today on bookflash Wednesday, we are spotlighting African Child by Camara Laye. Published in 1953 as L’Enfant Noir, the novel follows the nostalgic reminiscence of the author, Camara, who left Guinea to pursue further studies in French. Though the novel has been debated about what genre it belongs to, considering the fluidity of narration, the high concentration of beautiful scenic, pastoral lifestyle, the novel has been concluded, after a fatigued battle, as an autobiographical novel. The intention of the novel has been debated too. What Camara sets out to achieve, by memories, has been enlisted as one of the literary manifestoes against colonialism.

Camara hasn’t come to defend against this proposition. In fact, taking the wide accolade the novel receives, he went on to produce another book, The Radiance of the King (Le Regard du roi), where he satirized the crestfallen statue of white dominance in a country edging towards independence. Camara was a fine francophone writer, using his historical background to redefine his craft. What makes African Child a worthy read is the description and almost similitude to Mission to Kala. While Mongo writes from the point of visitation, Camara grows in it. The scene of farmers harvesting rice, of swimming, of his father’s shop makes the novel deserve its place.

In 1953, its original version was published in French. By 1954, the novel won the prestigious Prix Charles Veillon (Charles Veillon Prize). By that same year, it was translated to English by James Kirkup. The novel has received positive feedback from both anglophone and francophone countries.

The African Child is essentially the story of Laye’s childhood and gradual transition into adulthood. Laye grows up in Kouroussa surrounded by his family and the traditions of his Malinke community. His father is a respected blacksmith and goldsmith, whose work possesses both practical and spiritual significance. As a child, Laye is fascinated by his father’s craft and the mysterious world surrounding it. His relationship with his mother is equally important. She provides affection, protection and emotional stability.

Laye also attends school, where he begins to encounter a world different from the traditional environment of his home. As he grows older, he participates in important cultural experiences and gradually becomes more conscious of what it means to become a man within his society. Eventually, his education requires him to leave Kouroussa and travel to Conakry.

This departure is emotionally difficult because it represents more than simply changing schools. Laye is leaving behind his parents, childhood, community and familiar cultural environment. The novel therefore ends with a sense of transition: the African Child is becoming a young man, but that growth comes with the painful experience of separation from home.

The novel explores everyday themes that are common with nostalgic writings. Many see Camara as a very focused writer bent on telling his story and including all necessary details. The first noticeable theme is family and parental caring. On the preliminary page, he writes a poem about his mother. Mother, in that context, refers to Africa, but reading to the next, a careful reader can’t but conclude the mother is his. Their mode of departure is in tears and eventual surrender by his mother after so much pleading. His father provides authority and cultural instruction, while his mother provides emotional warmth and protection.

Another theme is childhood and coming of age. Much of the story follows Camara’s experiences as a child – from the opening where he is playing with a snake to finally leaving for Conakry. In this book, separation as subtheme is forged, in how Camara intentionally takes his time to describe his boyish experience, growing up and leaving Conakry, then Guinea, as a cutting from his idyllic world and his mother. Camara writes about sexuality from platonic perspective. He had a girlfriend, but unlike most African writers who will have their protagonist soiled in their new civilisation, Camara maintains purity. He firmly holds his posture of the old, cherishes his simplistic life, and rejects even the pleasure modernism offers.

Lastly, spiritualism. First African generation writers use tradition and culture to counter colonialism. It is the same for Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Ngugi Wa Thiongo’’s The River Between. Amos Tutuola’s Palm Wine Drinkard, on the other hand, was critiqued for excessively adopting European folklore. In African Child, Camara walks us through the religion of his family: traditional and Muslim. Laye’s father’s mysterious relationship with his craft, his mother’s spiritual qualities and traditional ceremonies demonstrate how spirituality is embedded within the community. Leaving Guinea, Camara feels cutoff from this relationship, though he still wears his mother’s talisman.

Using the first person POV, Camara takes us into his world and how peaceful it was until things fall apart for him. One of the greatest strengths of the novel is its celebration of African culture. Laye doesn’t portray traditional African society merely as primitive or backward. Instead, he shows that it possesses its own systems of knowledge, spirituality, craftsmanship, family structures and social values.

Despite being praised for being brutal against colonialism, the novel has also attracted criticism because some critics believe that its relatively peaceful portrayal of colonial Guinea does not sufficiently confront the political realities of French colonialism.

Camara is a writer worth celebrating.

Camara Laye (1928–1980) was a Guinean writer whose works became important contributions to African literature. He was born in Kouroussa, Guinea, and his childhood experiences provided much of the material for The African Child. He later travelled to Conakry for further education and eventually went to France, where he studied and worked. His writing frequently explores the relationship between African cultural traditions and the changing realities brought about by colonialism and Western education. His other notable work is The Radiance of the King (Le Regard du roi).