Emerging Perspectives on Aminata Sow Fall: The Real and the Imaginary in Her Novels ed. by Ada Uzoamaka Azodo (review)

Book Reviews139 Reviews Literary Studies Azodo, Ada Uzoamaka, ed. Emerging Perspectives on Aminata Sow Fall: The Real and the Imaginary in Her Novels. Trenton, NJ and Asmara, Eritrea: Africa World Press, INC., 2007. Pp 319. $34.95. Ada Uzoamaka Azodo's Emerging Perspectives on Aminata Sow Fall: The Real and the Imaginary in Her Novels, provides a comprehensive study of Sow Fall's life and work by combining biography, bibliography, interview, and a series of critical essays in French and English from a variety of theoretical platforms and differing methodologies. Emerging Perspectives on Aminata Sow Fall addresses all of Sow Fall's novels, while situating her life and her works within their socio/cultural context. Sow Fall is considered "truly the first Senegalese female writer" (24) whose "first novel, Le Revenant (1976), was the first by a woman in the Senegalese post independent era" (7). This volume addresses an important lack in the critical reception of Sow Fall's works: "critics' acknowledgment of Sow Fall's social vision has given rise to the bulk of social-realistic studies on the author and her works. But, the imaginary side has not received consistent and sustained treatment yet" (25). This collection is divided into sections. First is Uzoamaka Azodo's introduction which includes a biography of Sow Fall, and situates her works in context with other Senegalese writers such as Sembène Ousmane and Mariama Ba. Sow Fall's social realism is contrasted with more abstract writers such as Seyni Mbengue and Amadou Ndiaye. Following this introduction—which also offers short synopses of each of Sow Fall's novels—are the text's two main sections ("books"). The first book is a group of essays by several scholars who "focus on the study of social realism in Aminata Sow Fall's work" (159). Lucy M. Schwartz's chapter discusses conflicts in contemporary Senegal and how for Sow Fall, "African tradition is the anchor which will help steady the country in the midst of these cultural storms" (44). Kahiudi Claver Mabana offers a feminist analysis of Sow Fall's Douceurs du bercail. Jeanne-Sarah de Larquier turns to Senghor, Fanon and Sartre in her reading oí Douceurs du bercail as an example of Sow Fall's "humanism." Mame Selbee Diouf Ndiaye's chapter is a postcolonial critique of Douceurs du bercail. Marco D. Roman's discussion, informed by Bourdieu, is of the Islamic tradition of zakat (almsgiving) in La Grève des Battu. Lea Kalaora, in her treatment of Sow Fall's oeuvre, finds that "Ainsi Sow Fall, à la différence de nombreux écrivains africains qui ont commencé à écrire en situation d'exil, s'est mise à écrire au retour au pays" (148). The essays written in French—by Mabadana, de Larquier, and Kalaora— are each preceded by a brief synopsis in English, which serves as a helpful guide for the mid-level French student. 140Women in French Studies The second "book," entirely written by the editor, considers the "imaginary." This section provides a close analysis of each of Sow Fall's eight novels in order "to fathom the African soul embedded in her literary works, enabling us to explore the deeper meanings of the symbols and images in these works, not to mention the lessons in such African genres as tale, legends, epics, allegories and myths" (162). Here, Uzoamaka Azodo labels Sow Fall's novels "sagas" or "songs" in order to "reflect the particular aspect(s) of African tradition highlighted" (160) in the work in question. The third section, an interview with Sow Fall conducted in French and translated into English by the editor, is entitled "Towards a Search for the African Soul: Writing and the Imagination in the Novels of Aminata Sow Fall." The last part is an extensive bibliography of works relevant to Sow Fall as well as to Francophone women's writing. This collection is an outstanding resource for a course of Francophonie, contemporary French language women's writing, women's studies and/or Francophone women's writing. It is particularly useful since in one book it compiles reading guides to Sow Fall's entire oeuvre, and as such, would function very well as a companion to both students reading...