Olympe Bhêly-Quenum. Un enfant d'Afrique.

Paris. Présence Africaine/ACCT. 1997. 328 pages.
By Robert P. Smith Jr.,
Rutgers University, Camden

WORLD LITERATURE TODAY, SUMMER 1998
Section: A FRICA & THE WEST INDIES . WORLD LITERATURE IN REVIEW: BENIN

Olympe Bhêly-Quenum. Un enfant d'Afrique. Paris. Présence Africaine/ACCT. 1997. 328 pages.

In memory of his friend Jean Lacape, Olympe Bhêly-Quenum, the prolific writer from Benin (formerly Dahomey), has given us in Un enfant d'Afrique an admirable personal narrative of an authentic African childhood as seen through the eyes of the book's main character, Ayao Kilanko, who is six years old at the beginning of the novel. The author addresses at the same time the entire world in this "roman pour enfant." The novel, first published by Editions Larousse in 1970 for readers ages ten to fourteen, bas been translated, in whole or in part, into other languages including Russian, English, and Kiswahili. As if in a drama production, thirty-six characters are identified in a list at the beginning of the book, preceding the preface, and a glossary explaining special words and phrases follows each of its fifty-four chapters. Rich in smooth-flowing language, ideas, and portraits, the work gives us a brilliant panorama of what it is like to grow up in Africa within a traditional environment.

Bhêly-Quenum evokes a traditional African atmosphere with great authenticity. He knows the territory and has produced a solid, perceptive, inviting novel, including physical and moral portraits, descriptions of daily traditional occupations, and allusions to the importance of storytelling by the elderly in the tradition of the griot. The hero of the novel, Ayao, addressed as "Petit Homme" by a loving grandmother, learns the meaning of family love and solidarity, respect for the land, and the power of education. How he gets into an endless series of adventures and misadventures makes for fascinating reading.

The greatest emphasis in the novel is placed on education--that is, an education not to "faire le Blanc" by trying to be white, copying the manners of the whites, but rather to learn from the whites how to become useful to one's country or one's village.
Such was the ideal of Ayao. He loved education both for its enrichment and for its usefulness. After performing brilliantly in the schools provided by and dominated by the French colonial system, he returns to his village of Yougourou and establishes a school for adults as well as children, naming it "l'Ecole de nam Alaya" alter his beloved grandmother, who knew the value of a modern education but put equal emphasis on the best that traditional values had to offer. Nam Alaya herself never learned to read and write.

Olympe Bhêly-Quenum's novel, built around the personal and childhood experience of its author, still maintains its freshness in the world today, for we are reminded that the greatness and the riches of a country are its citizens, young and old, who are only able to contribute to the national development when they have received a good basic education from earliest childhood and beyond.

By Robert P. Smith Jr., Rutgers University, Camden

Copyright of World Literature Today is the property of World Literature Today and its content may not be copied without the copyright holder's express written permission except for the print or download capabilities of the retrieval software used for access. This content is intended solely for the use of the individual user. Source: World Literature Today, Summer98, Vol. 72 Issue 3, p668, 1/2p. ltem Number: 1177140

Author(s): Smith Jr., Robert P.
Abstract: Reviews the book 'Un enfant d'Afrique,' by Olympe Bhêly-Quenum.
AN: 1177140
ISSN: 0196-3570
Database: Academic Search Elite