Renowned Francophone author Alain Mabanckou, celebrated for his satirical wit and vibrant prose in novels like African Psycho and Black Moses, returns with a captivating new work that blends the supernatural and the political. Dealing with the Dead, deftly translated by Helen Stevenson, follows the story of Liwa Ekimakingaï, a young Congolese man who rises from his grave, attired in a colorful ensemble, to seek closure and confront the corruption that led to his untimely demise.
A Congolese Tale of the Surreal and Satirical
Mabanckou’s narrative unfolds in a dreamlike sequence as Liwa, now undead, encounters fellow cemetery residents who share their own tragic stories of lives cut short by greed and abuse of power in the Republic of the Congo. Through these tales, Mabanckou paints a grim picture of a nation plagued by corruption, where even the innocent fall victim to the whims of those in high positions.
Central to the novel’s critique is the figure of Papa Mokonzi Ayé, a thinly veiled caricature of Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso. Mabanckou skilfully weaves this character into the events surrounding Liwa’s death, crafting a twisty and convoluted story that intertwines the supernatural with the machinations of the powerful.
Genres Collide in a Feast of Intertextuality
One of the great pleasures of Dealing with the Dead lies in its exhilarating hunger to explore and combine various genres and literary traditions. Mabanckou’s prose is delightfully intertextual, with references ranging from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer to works by literary giants like Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Chinua Achebe. As Liwa navigates his posthumous journey, the novel shapeshifts between detective story, picaresque, bildungsroman, and political satire, demonstrating Mabanckou’s mastery of the form.
Reading Mabanckou, one sees the novel as a meeting place of worlds; the specious borders that separate literatures – Francophone from French, African from western – are made delightfully porous.
A Personal Elegy for a Cherished Homeland?
Known for drawing on his own experiences in his fiction, Mabanckou imbues Dealing with the Dead with a sense of deeply personal grief and outrage. As an outspoken critic of the Congolese president, Mabanckou is himself unwelcome in his homeland. Could Liwa’s untimely death and subsequent resurrection serve as an allegory for the author’s own involuntary exile and separation from the cherished landscape of his youth?
A Triumphant Addition to Mabanckou’s Oeuvre
With its captivating blend of humor, tragedy, and the surreal, Dealing with the Dead stands as a triumphant addition to Alain Mabanckou’s already impressive body of work. Through the story of Liwa Ekimakingaï and his posthumous quest for closure, Mabanckou offers a searing indictment of corruption and abuse of power, while also paying homage to the rich tapestry of world literature. This is a novel that will haunt readers long after they turn the final page, a testament to Mabanckou’s enduring place in the pantheon of contemporary Francophone literature.
