Cruel City

A new translation of Beti%E2%80%99s 1954 work, this novel chronicles a young African man%E2%80%99s coming of age in a country barreling toward capitalism. Banda is young and headstrong, with dreams of making his fortune in the large city of Fort Negr%C3%A9, Haiti. Before taking this leap though, he is committed to his ailing mother%E2%80%99s final wish of seeing her son married off. To marry the one woman his mother doesn%E2%80%99t expressly disapprove of, Banda must hand over a princely sum to her father%E2%80%94a dowry that depends on his ability to sell his crop of cacao beans. But after the crop is rejected by white officials in nearby Tanga, Banda, running out of time, must find another way to come up with the money. The latter half of the novel follows Banda%E2%80%99s desperate attempts to thrive in an environment over which he has no control. Beti%E2%80%99s prose is rendered through Banda%E2%80%99s manic consciousness%E2%80%94a stoic yet emotive interior monologue that betrays the conflicted nature of Banda%E2%80%99s character and environment. The book includes Beti%E2%80%99s essay on Francophile African literature and offers a unique insight into the colonial African experience and its literature. (Mar.)