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PRAISE FOR AMBIGUOUS ADVENTURE “A fine novel. . . The philosophical dialogue between the West and Africa has rarely been better presented than in Ambiguous Adven- ture. . . The hero of the novel, the deliverer-to-be and paragon of the new generation, returns from France a total spiritual wreck, his once vibrant sense of community hopelessly shattered. Sum- moned to assume the mantle of leadership, his tortured soul begs to be excused, to be left alone. ‘What have their problems to do with me?’ he asks. ‘I am only myself. I have only me.’ Poor fellow; the West has got him!” —Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart “From within his profoundly Muslim personality, Diallo mani- fests the quintessence of African humanity and the destiny of the black race.” —Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate “My favorite novel. . . a complicated but brilliant novel about inter- racial relations.” —Angélique Kidjo, Grammy Award– winning singer-songwriter “It is a work that summarizes and brings into focus the ideas and attitudes that lie at the center of inspiration of all French African writing.” —Abiola Irele, Lectures Africanes “Exceptionally beautiful. . . . highly original. . . oddly moving. Ambiguous Adventure is an indispensable book for anyone wish- ing to delve into the psychology of colonialism.” —Words Without Borders “Cheikh Hamidou Kane, avoiding the temporal and political ele- ment of his subject matter, the anguish of being black, lands upon a reflection that concerns us all: the anguish of being human.” —J. Chevrier, Le Monde AMBIGUOUS ADVENTURE CHEIKH HAMIDOU KANE was born in 1928 in Mataru, Sen- egal, the son of a local chief. Having started at a Koranic school, he went on to a local French primary school, and eventually was sent off to read philosophy and law at the Sorbonne in Paris. Subsequently, he studied at the École Nationale de la France d’Outre-Mer, which had been founded by the French government to train colonial administrators. During Kane’s years in Paris he wrote a novel based closely on his experience, Ambiguous Adven- ture, and after his return to Senegal in 1959 he set about getting it published, while also taking a job as a governmental bureau- crat. The novel was published in 1961 to immediate acclaim, and the following year won the Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noir. Kane meanwhile went on to rise in ministerial positions in the Senegalese government, serving as Director of the Department of Economic Planning and Development, Governor of the Region of Thies, and Commissioner of Planning. He has also worked for UNICEF in Lagos and Abidjan. Kane lives in Dakar. KATHERINE WOODS, besides being known for her transla- tion of Ambiguous Adventure, is perhaps best known for her 1943 translation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince. WOLE SOYINKA is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. In 1986 he became the first African ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was imprisoned in Nigeria for his opposition to dictatorship. He is the author of, among many books, Ake: The Years of Childhood, Climate of Fear, based on the prestigious Reith Lectures, delivered on the BBC, and a memoir, You Must Set Forth at Dawn. T HE NEVERSINK L I BRARY I was by no means the only reader of books on board the Neversink. Several other sailors were diligent readers, though their studies did not lie in the way of belles-lettres. Their favourite authors were such as you may find at the book-stalls around Fulton Market; they were slightly physi- ological in their nature. My book experiences on board of the frigate proved an example of a fact which every book- lover must have experienced before me, namely, that though public libraries have an imposing air, and doubtless contain invaluable volumes, yet, somehow, the books that prove most agreeable, grateful, and companionable, are those we pick up by chance here and there; those which seem put into our hands by Providence; those which pretend to little, but abound in much. —Herman Melville, White Jacket AMBIGUOUS ADVENTURE CHEIKH HAMIDOU KANE TRANSLATED BY KATHERINE WOODS AFTERWORD BY WOLE SOYINKA MELVILLE HOUSE PUBLISHING BROOKLYN, NEW YORK AMBIGUOUS ADVENTURE Originally published in French as L’aventure ambiguë Copyright © René Julliard, 1962 Translation © Walker & Company, 1963 Afterword is excerpted from Myth, Literature and the African World © 1976 Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with the permission of Cambridge University Press. Design by Christopher King First Melville House printing: February 2012 Melville House Publishing 145 Plymouth Street Brooklyn, NY 11201 www.mhpbooks.com ISBN: 978-1-61219-054-9 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kane, Hamidou. [Aventure ambiguë. English] Ambiguous adventure / Cheikh Hamidou Kane. p. cm. “Originally published in French as L’aventure ambique”--T.p. verso. ISBN ---- (pbk.) I. Title. PQ..KA ’.--dc AMBIGUOUS ADVENTURE
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