The Abandoned Baobab
Senegalese novel
The Abandoned Baobab is a book written by Ken Bugul, which is actually a pseudonym for Mariètou Mbaye Biléoma. She was urged to publish this book under a pen name since the subject matter of the novel deals with things that are not traditionally considered appropriate in Senegal. The book was originally published in French in 1982 as Le Baobab Fou and was translated in English in 1991, published by Lawrence Hill Books.
Quotes
edit- "The plane left the sun in an intoxicating and almost painful rage. It took my breath away and instinctively I clutched the armrests. I felt as if I were being torn away from myself."
- Chapter 1, page 25
- "I want to be with him, while at the same time I rejected him, not because I didn’t want him but because of our surroundings."
- Chapter 3, page 41
- "I am absolutely against all mixing. Each race should remain as it is. Mixing the races gives rise to degenerates; that is not racism. I am speaking scientifically. You are black, stay with black people. Whites should stay with whites."
- Chapter 3, page 47
- "A system of preestablished values, a healthier approach to sexuality prohibit such a situation. Hence the woman’s early marriage. Abortion was rare in any traditional village."
- Chapter 3, page 51
- "Sexuality is culture and atmosphere"
- Chapter 3, page 52
- "I thought I was having a fine time with them, but I was actually even more frustrated: I identified myself in them, they did not identify themselves in me."
- Chapter 3, page 53
- "White folks, they’re all the same. Their infatuation with what’s Black. And, once colonialism had displayed it, Africa had begun to show her backside and her skin across the world to command attention."
- Chapter 5, page 69
- "From now on, I would look at human beings by enclosing them in their bodies"
- Chapter 5, page 70
- "I just wanted to live, without fear, without knowledge, to live on the instinct of which I was totally unaware, over which I had no control."
- Chapter 5, page 71
- "I felt like running to the village, staying underneath the baobab tree, and crying"
- Chapter 5, page 73
