Igifu

Mukasonga, Scholastique (author.). Stump, Jordan, 1959- (translator.).

Summary: "Scholastique Mukasonga's autobiographical stories rend a glorious Rwanda from the obliterating force of recent history, conjuring the noble cows of her home or the dew-swollen grass they graze on. In the title story, five-year-old Colomba tells of a merciless overlord, hunger or igifu, gnawing away at her belly. She searches for sap at the bud of a flower, scraps of sweet potato at the foot of her parent's bed, or a few grains of sorghum in the floor sweepings. Igifu becomes a dizzying hole in her stomach, a plunging abyss into which she falls. In a desperate act of preservation, Colomba's mother gathers enough sorghum to whip up a nourishing porridge, bringing Colomba back to life. This elixir courses through each story, a balm to soothe the pains of those so ferociously fighting for survival."--

Item details

ISBN: 9781939810786
ISBN: 1939810787
Physical Description: print
110 pages ; 18 cm
Edition: First Archipelago Books edition.
Publisher: Brooklyn, NY : Archipelago Books, [2020]
Copyright: ©2020

Contents / Notes

General Note:	"First published as L'Iguifou by Editions Gallimard, Paris, 2010" -- Title page verso.
Formatted Contents Note:	Igifu -- The glorious cow -- Fear -- The curse of beauty -- Grief.

Find similar items by subject

Subject:

Genocide Rwanda Fiction
Survival Fiction
Rwanda History 20th century Fiction

Genre:

Fiction.
Short stories.
Short stories.
Autobiographical fiction.
Social problem fiction.
French fiction -- Translations into English.

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