Ambiguous Adventure (Neversink)

By Cheikh Hamidou Kane

Book Overview

The celebrated classic by a groundbreaking figure in African literature addresses a critical contemporary issue--the collision of Islamic African values and Western culture.

Hailed by Chinua Achebe as one of the greatest African novels ever written, this long-unavailable classic tells the tale of young Samba Diallo, a devout pupil in a Koranic school in Senegal whose parents send him to Paris to study philosophy.

But unknown to Samba, it is a desperate attempt by his parents to better understand the French colonial forces transforming their traditional way of life. Instead, for Samba, it seems an exciting adventure, and once in France he excels at his new studies and is delighted by his new "marvelous comprehension and total communion" with the Western world.

Soon, though, he finds himself torn between the materialistic secularism and isolation of French civilization and the deeper spiritual influences of his homeland. As Samba puts it: "I have become the two."

Written in an elegant, lyrical prose, Ambiguous Adventure is a masterful expression of the immigrant experience and the repercussions of colonialism, and a great work of literature about the uneasy relationship between Islamic Africa and the West--a relationship more important today than ever before.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1612190545
• ISBN13: 9781612190549
• Release Date: April 2012
• Publisher: Melville House
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.4" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Searching Truth: Phlosophy of the Mystical

Samba Diallo stands between the two worlds. He is raised an obedient Muslim in the Diallobe tribe in Senegal yet is torn between his traditional world and that of the French invaders. In this largely philosophic work, Samba Diallo must chose not only the path between African and European, but also between God and Science. Mix in some Pascal and a Sufi Sheik known as "the fool" and Kane has created a world that keeps you interested despite a lack of action. The final chapter leaves you pondering. I would not put this on my must read list above Things Fall Apart or The River Between, but worthwhile if you've already read those two.

A worthwhile read

Ambiguous Adventure is initially gripping with its description of a Koranic school and the life of the protagonist, Samba Diallo. Samba is sent to the local French school, and from there goes to France, which leads to conflict between the values and beliefs he was brought up with and the emptiness he feels in the Western culture. The novel successfully depicts the sense of a divided self and the conflict between "progress" and traditional values and beliefs. However at times it becomes bogged down in philosophical discussion. Because this seems to overshadow the setting and characters, at times the people in the book feel very removed and distant. However, the novel is certainly a valuable representation of Sengalese literature especially in terms of the impact of colonization.

Worth re-reading

This is not a book about Africa. It is about Africa being assimilated by Europe and must be read in that context. Once you realize that, you can see a great deal of detail and complexity five or ten years after a first reading (esp. when you don't have an essay due next Monday about the book)

Moving and Precise

This book is a must for anyone interested in African literature, Islamic literature, and the experience of losing culture in the 20th century experience of modernization. This is the story of an African who is separated from his family, religion, and culture as he "moves up" in the world, eventually moving to France for his education. The description of what is lost in this transaction-- from a personal and spiritual point of view-- truly took me into the experience of an "other" seldom understood.