Mohamed Mbougar Sarr's 'The Secret Memory of Men' won French notoriety and acclaim for plumbing an African novelist's erasure — and now it's available in English.
Sarr is the author of four novels, each of which treats a controversial subject. “Terre ceinte,” translated by Alexia Trigo as “Brotherhood” in 2021, examines terrorism; “Silence du chœur” addresses the migrant crisis in Italy; “De purs hommes” focuses on queer life and death in Senegal. In “Secret Memory,” Sarr turns his attention to the challenges of publishing while Black, exploring the gap between literature and the literary life.
That distance is vast, especially for the young African artists in Paris who form Diégane Latyr Faye’s circle of friends. They are tangled up in publishing parties, sex, talk of poetry and melancholy late-night walks — just like any band of aspiring literati but with an additional field of concern: the awareness of being African, of haunting the periphery of French letters.
This dilemma is thrown into relief when Faye, astounded by the power of “The Labyrinth of Inhumanity,” disgraced writer T.C. Elimane’s only novel, sets out to find its mysterious author. His growing file on Elimane includes reviews of the book — a funny and wrenching sendup of French literary culture that will resonate with Anglophone readers.
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