Kibogo
ルワンダの歴史、女性たちの記憶、ジェノサイドの影を、民話や伝承の感触を交えて描く小説。個人史と集団史が重なり合い、失われた声を拾い直す。
作品情報
消された記憶を、伝承と声がそっと呼び戻す。
ルワンダの過去を、女性たちの視点と口承の響きを通して見つめ直す。歴史の暴力と、その後に残る記憶の継承を、抑えた筆致でたどる。
書籍情報
- 出版社
- Archipelago
- 発売日
- 2022-09-13
- ページ数
- 152ページ
- 言語
- 英語
- サイズ
- 13.36 x 1.14 x 17.15 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781953861368
- ISBN-10
- 1953861369
- 価格
- 2924 JPY
- カテゴリ
- 洋書/Literature & Fiction/Women's Fiction/Sisters
FINALIST FOR THE 2022 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A new masterwork of satire, lore, and living memory from the leading voice of French-Rwandan literature “Mukasonga breathes upon a vanished world and brings it to life in all its sparkling multifariousness” --J.M. Coetzee In four beautifully woven parts, Mukasonga spins a marvelous recounting of the clash between ancient Rwandan beliefs and the missionaries determined to replace them with European Christianity. When a rogue priest is defrocked for fusing the gospels with the martyrdom of Kibogo, a fierce clash of cults ensues. Swirling with the heady smell of wet earth and flashes of acerbic humor, Mukasonga brings to life the vital mythologies that imbue the Rwandan spirit. In doing so, she gives us a tale of disarming simplicity and profound universal truth. Kibogo’s story is reserved for the evening’s end, when women sit around a fire drinking honeyed brew, when just a few are able to stave off sleep. With heads nodding, drifting into the mist of a dream, one faithful storyteller will weave the old legends of the hillside, stories which church missionaries have done everything in their power to expunge. To some, Kibogo’s tale is founding myth, celestial marvel, magic incantation, bottomless source of hope. To white priests spritzing holy water on shriveled, drought-ridden trees, it looms like red fog over the village: forbidden, satanic, a witchdoctor’s hoax. All debate the twisted roots of this story, but deep down, all secretly wonder – can Kibogo really summon the rain?
Born in Rwanda in 1956, Scholastique Mukasonga experienced from childhood the violence and humiliation of the ethnic conflicts that shook her country. Her family was displaced in 1960, and was later forced to flee to Burundi. She settled in France in 1992, only two years before the brutal genocide of the Tutsi swept through Rwanda, which resulted in the massacre of 37 of her family members. Her previous books Our Lady of the Nile , Cockroaches, The Barefoot Woman, and Igifu have been the recipients of many awards and international acclaim. Mark Polizzotti is a biographer, critic, translator of more than fifty books, editor, and poet. He is the author of Sympathy for the Traitor , Highway 61 Revisited , Revolution of the Mind: The Life of André Breton . Polizzotti directs the publications program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
レビュー
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a sense of a different world view that convinces and engages
I loved the way that in the first three sections one was carried along as the original world picture changed and was changed by the arrival of the church/colonisers. The fourth section in many ways (though I did not like it as much) highlighted just how special and successful the preceding sections had been.
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An Extraordinary Story
"Rather than a writer, I prefer to call myself a storyteller." -Scholastique Mukasonga The spirit of Rwanda is encapsulated within the content of "Kibogo", a social novel. Written in four beautifully woven parts, the novel relates how oral literature and tradition were being suppressed by colonial and missionary rule. The colonizers needed iron and copper from the mines to make rifles and cannons for war. "And the chiefs had said to the sub-chiefs: I need men and I need beans...and the sub-chiefs took the men and beans, and took away our children." When the barns were depleted, then came "Ruzagayura", the famine, taking its toll on the most vulnerable. They were told that trucks filled with flour, rice and beans were forthcoming. Instead of trucks, missionaries came. Where was the rain needed to nourish the soil so new plantings might flourish? The missionaries claimed that the singing of hymns by those baptized and the renunciation of witchdoctors and spell-casting demons would bring on the rain. Pagan belief and myth invoked the spirit of Kibogo, a self-sacrificing prince and his faithful priestess, Mukamwezi. Who would bring the rain, Yezu and Maria or Kibogo? Giving hope to the villagers, but exasperating the European missionaries, was Akayezu, a homegrown seminary student. With one foot planted in each culture, that of a religious nature as well as an infused traditional upbringing, his attempts to placate both sides led to his defrocked status. "Kibogo's story is reserved for the evening's end, when women circle a fire drinking honeyed brew...". To these women, Kibogo's legend represented the ancient beliefs of yesteryear. These traditions needed to be preserved. What laughable foolishness was displayed by a visiting professor; a false narrative and false promises. "Kibogo" by Scholastique Mukasonga and translated by Mark Polizzotti is a powerful, heartfelt novel. It is hoped that the guardians of Rawanda's rich oral literature can keep their heritage alive for generations to come. Highly recommended.
関連する文学賞
- ナショナル・ブック賞（翻訳文学） 第5回（2022年） ・Nominee