In Senegal, three modest families share a courtyard. This common space is a small paradise where they meet to cook, dine, talk, evoke memories, and grow together. At one Sunday family gathering, the usual post-meal conversation turns tense when Sada's adolescent son, Dieiry, asks why his father was so friendly with a government official at a televised ribbon-cutting the day before. The conversation quickly devolves into one about respect and duty.

In Empire of Illusion, legendary Senegalese novelist Aminata Sow Fall, explores the powerful themes of family, respect, and ethics. What respect does a son owe his father-and vice versa? How does a family maintain a balance of debate and respect? How does a person maintain self-respect when forced to swim in ethically muddy waters? Aminata Sow Fall, the matriarch of Senegalese social-realist fiction delivers yet another trenchant examination of her society, and of the universal challenge of finding, keeping, and giving respect to oneself and others.

About the Author

Aminata Sow Fall is a Senegalese novelist whose work has received international acclaim (Grand Prix litteraire de l'Afrique noire, Prix International Alioune Diop, and Grand Prix de la Francophonie de l'Academie francaise), most notably for Le Revenant, La Greve des battu, L'Appel des arenes, Ex-pere de la nation: roman, Douceurs du bercail, and Le jujubier du patriarche.

Meg Weisberg is a creative writer, visual artist, and scholar of comparative literature, focusing on Africa and on Africa's cultural relationships with the rest of the world.

Reviews

"The Empire of Illusion revalorizes human values too often forgotten, denied. The novel can be seen as an educational guide for today's society, a kind of recipe for happiness in which everyone can find themselves in order to build their life."-Kab Niang, Le Bondy Blog, reviewing a previous edition or volume

Book Information
ISBN 9780253066992
Author Aminata Sow Fall
Format Paperback
Page Count 80
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press