Parables and Fables: Exegesis, Textuality, and Politics in Central Africa - Paperback

by V. Y. Mudimbe (Author)

Winner of the 2014 Brittingham Prize in Poetry, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye
The word tyrant carries negative connotations, but in this new collection, Joanne Diaz tries to understand what makes tyranny so compelling, even seductive. These dynamic, funny, often poignant poems investigate the nature of tyranny in all of its forms political, cultural, familial, and erotic. Poems about Stalin, Lenin, and Castro appear beside poems about deeply personal histories. The result is a powerful exploration of desire, grief, and loss in a world where private relationships are always illuminated and informed by larger, more despotic forces.
Winner, Midwest Book Award for Poetry, Midwest Independent Publishers Association"

Author Biography

V. Y. Mudimbe is the Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of Romance Studies and professor of comparative literature at Duke University. He is also maître de conferences at the École Pratique des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris and has lectured at universities throughout Africa, Europe, and North America. Among his many works of philosophy, philology, sociology, fiction, and poetry is The Invention of Africa, cowinner of the 1989 Herskovitz Prize for African Studies. He was awarded the 1977 Senghor Grand Prize for literature in the French language, and two of his novels are available in English translation: Before the Birth of the Moon and Between Tides.