Alain Mabanckou

Alain Mabanckou (born February 24, 1966, Mouyondzi, Congo [now Republic of the Congo]) is a prolific Francophone Congolese poet and novelist whose wordplay, philosophical bent, and sometimes sly and often absurd sense of humor resulted in his being known in France as “the African Samuel Beckett.” Acclaimed for his works addressing the consequences of colonialism in Africa, Mabanckou is one of the most popular Francophone African writers in contemporary literature.

Background and education

Mabanckou grew up in Congo (Brazzaville) in the port city of Pointe-Noire, the only child of a mother who could not read and a father unfamiliar with fiction. By his own account, he spoke several African languages—Bembé, Laari, Vili, Kamba, Munukutuba (Kituba), and Lingala—before starting school at age six. There he learned French, and it began to dawn on him how much was lost to posterity with the use of unwritten languages and the disappearance of the rituals that served an oral tradition.

He studied letters and philosophy at the Lycée Karl Marx in Pointe-Noire (B.A., 1981) and then began prelaw classes in Brazzaville. At age 22 he won a scholarship to study law in Paris, and he took an advanced degree in business law from the University of Paris-Dauphine in 1993.

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A Study of Poetry

Early works and Blue White Red

Even before leaving Congo, Mabanckou had written a number of manuscripts, and he began to publish these while working for the Paris-based multinational firm Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux. The first of his writings to see publication was a book of poems, Au jour le jour (1993; “Day to Day”), as were the second and third. His first novel, Bleu-blanc-rouge (1998; Blue White Red), concerns the discoveries of an African immigrant to France. When this work won the Association of French-Language Writers’ Literary Grand Prize of Black Africa, Mabanckou’s course seemed set.

Novels

Mabanckou took it as a challenge to subvert the rules of the French Academy, making a point of capturing the rhythm of Congolese French and using only the punctuation (mostly just commas) that suited the vocal rhythms of his characters. Novels followed in rapid succession: L’Enterrement de ma mère (2000; “My Mother’s Funeral”), Et Dieu seul sait comment je dors (2001; “And God Only Knows How I Sleep”), Les Petits-Fils nègres de Vercingétorix (2002; The Negro Grandsons of Vercingétorix [a Gallic chieftain]), and African Psycho (2003), a work whose plot, as well as title, makes reference to American writer Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho (1991).

With Verre cassé (2005; Broken Glass), a comic reflection on French and Congolese cultures and Mabanckou’s second novel to be translated into English, he found a considerable English-language audience. His next fictional offering, Mémoires de porc-épic (2006; Memoirs of a Porcupine), won the Prix Renaudot. It puts a new twist on the legend (found in Africa as well as on other continents) that every human has an animal double. His other novels include Black Bazar (2009; Black Bazaar), an exposé of the differences between the several nationalities of the dark-skinned denizens of Paris; and the murder mystery Tais-toi et meurs (2012; “Shut Up and Die”).

Petit piment (2015; Black Moses), set in the underworld of Pointe Noire in the 1970s and ’80s, was nominated for a Booker Prize in the fiction category. Les cigognes sont immortelles (2020; The Death of Comrade President) returned to this milieu to focus on a naive young boy whose life and family are thrown into turmoil after the Congolese president is assassinated.

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Nonfiction and translations

In addition to writing, Mabanckou translated Nigerian American Uzodinma Iweala’s novel Beasts of No Nation into French. He also penned a tribute to American writer James Baldwin, Lettre à Jimmy (2007), and wrote two memoirs, Demain j’aurai vingt ans (2010; Tomorrow I’ll Be Twenty, a finalist for the Man Booker Prize), written in the voice of the author at 10; and Lumières de Pointe-Noire (2013; The Lights of Pointe-Noire), described by one critic as “a dazzling meditation on homecoming and belonging.” Le Sanglot de l’homme noir (2012; The Tears of the Black Man) is a collection of literary criticism.

Teaching career

In 2002 Mabanckou accepted a writing fellowship from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he wrote and taught for a few years. In 2007 he became a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of California, Los Angeles.