#segou

The work of the writer Maryse Condé, who died on April 2, 2024, at the age of 90, is colossal. I will say a few words about it. This is the journey of a free black woman.

She was born in Guadeloupe and her name was Marise Liliane Appoline Boucolon. She studied in France, lived in Guinea, Ghana and Senegal. She will end her career in the United States as professor at Colombia University.

I discovered her writings with Ségou (1984). It is a two-volume saga about the decline of the Bambara kingdom of Ségou 200 years ago. This kingdom includes present-day Mali. The story ends with the arrival of French colonizers at the end of the 19th century. We follow the destiny of four Traoré brothers. The two volumes are well written, and the ambitious work keeps its promises. There are multiple intrigues and extraordinary destinies against the backdrop of the slavery trade which left its mark on Africa and sent millions of Africans to the four corners of the world.

Maryse Condé has published around thirty novels, plays and essays in her long career. The author was prolific and won numerous prestigious literary awards for her work.

I have not read all of her work, but I had great respect for her because of her ability to attack the faults of the former colonists as well as those of patriarchal, chauvinistic and authoritarian black men.

“Moi, Tituba sorcière” (1986) is another novel that I liked. This is a character inspired by a woman who existed. Tituba, a young slave of the Puritan pastor Samuel Parris, was accused of being one of the Salem witches in 1692 during a trial. It is a story rich in twists and turns that the great writer offers us, and we witness the persecution of Tituba. Beyond the irrational reaction of village women to a black woman healer, there is Tituba the slave who has a memorable destiny. Maryse Condé thus rehabilitates Tituba, whom American writers had thrown into oblivion.

Another beautiful work is “Traversée de la Mangrove” (1989). In this story that happens in one night, people come together to talk about a dead man in Guadeloupe that everyone thinks they know but that no one really knows. At the heart of this work is the question of the identity of the West Indians and even of the Africans in general.

In addition, I will say a word about “En attendant la montée des eaux” (2010). This work is about the destiny of black men. These are characters in search of a peaceful path, after exile, persecution and wandering. It is an ode to masculine friendship.

Apart from the novels, her plays were also very successful. 

To understand her work, we must follow the upheavals of the black diaspora. She drops stones in her path, nuggets of gold that give a multiple image of what it means to be Black. For Maryse Condé, being from the diaspora or from Africa at 21It is century does not mean the same challenges in the world. That said, she wants to make her work a link between those descended from slaves and those coming directly from the black continent. After all, mainly the West has disrupted the modern history of these Blacks.

For her, negritude was a chimerical movement, which claimed that all black people looked the same. The writer shows throughout her stories that we must move away from stereotypical concepts of what it means to be part of the black community.

For Maryse Condé, Traoré did not dream like Ovid. Tituba did not have the same conception of the world as Ayodélé. Her characters, sometimes contemporary or ancient, remain inhabited by their own dreams and above all, they each face the challenges of life in their own way.

In her interviews, Maryse Condé always got to the point.

“At the beginning, I was a disciple of Aimé Césaire. I believed in Negritude. To me, all black people of all “races” were my brothers and sisters. Then I realized that African-Americans did not accept me. Despite my black skin, I came from elsewhere; I had other references, another story. »

It is a strong, uncompromising statement. However, she kept her ex-husband's last name (Condé) because she loved Africa. She made the difference between having been hurt by Africans and being African at heart: “The pride of being black, the pride of being a woman, the pride of being what I am, it was Africa that brought it to me. »

This is not a contradiction. Maryse Condé brings this subtlety to understand the Black world. She drew on her experience and allowed herself to give essential nuances to the spirit of identity of black people. Not to divide them but to prepare them for a better understanding between them and above all to allow them to reconcile over unintentional injuries.

A great lady is gone.

Ahmadou, roi de Ségou Ahmadu Tall (var. Ahmadu Seku/Sekou) Toucouleur ruler (Almami) of Ségou (now Mali) from 1864-1892.

Camille Pietri — Page 95 of Les français au Niger; voyages et combats, par le Capitaine Pietri. Ouvrage contenant 28 gravures et une carte. (published 1885) by Pietri, Camille , 1852-1885.

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