The Land Without Shadows

Posted on 27 January 2018 by Abdourahman A. Waberi

One of the first literary works to portray Djiboutians from their own point of view, The Land without Shadows is a collection of seventeen short stories The author, Abdourahman A Waberi, one of a handful of francophone writers of fiction to have emerged in the twentieth century from the confetti sized state of Djibouti, has already won international recognition and prizes in African literature for his stories and novel Because his writing is linked to immigration and exile, his native Djibouti occupies center stage in his work Drawing on the Somali Djiboutian oral tradition to weave pieces of legend, proverbs, music, poetry, and history together with references to writers as diverse as Soyinka, Shakespeare, Djebar, Baudelaire, Cesaire, Waugh, Senghor, and Beckett, Waberi succeeds in bringing his country into a context that reaches well beyond the Horn of Africa.Originally published in France in 1994 as Le Pays sans ombre, this newly translated collection presents stories about the precolonial and colonial past of Djibouti alongside those set in the postcolonial era With irony and humor, these short stories portray madmen, poets, artists, French colonists, pseudointellectuals, young women, aspiring politicians, famished refugees, khat chewers, nomads struggling to survive in Djibouti s ruthless natural environment, or tramps living and dying in Balbala, the shantytown that stretches to the south of the capital Waberi s complex web of allusions locates his tales at an intersection between history and ethnography, politics and literature While written in a narrative prose, these stories nevertheless call on an indigenous literary tradition that elevates poetry to the highest standing.By juxtaposing the present with the past, the individual with the collective, the colonized with the colonizer, the local with the global, The Land without Shadows composes an image of Djibouti that is at times both kaleidoscopic and cinematographic Here the art of the short story offers partial but brilliantly illuminated scenes of the Djiboutian urban and rural landscape, its people, and its history.For sale in the U.S and its territories only Download The Land Without Shadows Author Abdourahman A. Waberi – kino-fada.fr I read this short book only 80 pages of text, plus a 20 page introduction for my world books challenge, as a book set in Djibouti I m not sure I really got it, hence the lack of rating Though billed as a collection of 17 short stories, most of these pieces are better described as a description, or an extended metaphor Other reviewers have referred to them as essays, but as most of them seem to exist in fictional space though often without plot and sometimes even without real characters , I read this short book only 80 pages of text, plus a 20 page introduction for my world books challenge, as a book set in Djibouti I m not sure I really got it, hence the lack of rating Though billed as a collection of 17 short stories, most of these pieces are better described as a description, or an extended metaphor Other reviewers have referred to them as essays, but as most of them seem to exist in fictional space though often without plot and sometimes even without real characters , rather than advancing an organized argument, that description too seems not quite accurate.Obviously I can only judge this work as a foreign reader and can t predict the reactions of those who share the author s cultural background But I had to push myself through this one, and didn t connect with it The short pieces are highly stylized and often hard to understand, and only a...This is a collection of short stories from Djibouti It was originally published in French as Le pays sans ombre I read both versions and thought the French version was better andpoetic than the translation, which is a bit leaden in places, although the author collaborated and was presumably happy with it.Nuruddin Farah says his favourite story from the collection is The Seascape Painter and the Wind Drinker , it is a good one I really liked The Dasbiou Mystery , a playfully satirical This is a collection of short stories from Djibouti It was originally published in French as Le pays sans ombre I read both versions and thought the French version was better andpoetic than the translation, which is a bit leaden in places, although the author collaborated and was presumably happy with it.Nurud...Read this in French Short stories loosely linked Surreal, macabre, poetic, what do you expect from the Horn of Africa I loved his Aux Etats Unis d Afrique which is for some reason not on Goodreads Aux Etats Unis has all the qualities of Le Pays sans Ombres but projected on Europe which is in this alternate history what Africa is in our reality The story of Maya saved and raised by an Erithrean doctor without borders, who is now looking for her roots in the war torn France is told c Read this in French Short stories loosely linked Surreal, macabre, poetic, what do you expect from the Horn of Africa I loved his Aux Etats Unis d Afrique which is for some reason not on Goodreads Aux Etats Unis has all the qualities of Le Pays sans Ombres but projected on Europe which is in this alternate history what Africa is in our reality The story of Maya s... The Land Without Shadows is my book from Djibouti for the Read The World challenge There are a few options available in French, but Waberi seems to be the only choice in English Having read a few underwhelmed reviews of his novel, In The United States of Africa, I thought I d try this collection of short pieces.It seems to be broadly true that Francophone literature from Africa is muchovertly literary than the English language stuffplayful,given to formal and stylistic flo The Land Without Shadows is my book from Djibouti for the Read The World chall...Poetic, fragmentary pieces that are sometimes stories, sometimeslike essays I didn t know much about Djbouti before I read this, but I really got a sense from this not only about Djbouti, but about th...When thinking of Africa, most people think of lush vegetation, lions, zebras, elephants, people living peacefully in small villages This book presents the gritty reality the poverty and utter hopelessness of nations destroyed by European colonialism and interference, unable to...This book gave me a feel of Djibouti, a country whose name is appearingfrequently in the news These arelike vignettes than actual short stories in the traditional sense You get the feel of the landscape, the effect of colonalism and what has happened since the colonials left.This was a series of vignettes that I would call gems for their poetic nature,but hesitate to for the darkness to their content Khat tinged days, death, abuse, and indifference infuse these stories I do hope that this is not all that Djibouti and the horn of Africa have to offer

English
27 January 2018

Abdourahman A. Waberi