Jazz and Palm Wine

"Dongala's striking story collection, originally published in France in 1982, includes political tales set in his native Congo and jazz-themed pieces set in America. . . . Dongala's prose can be quite moving, and his writing full of marvelous, lyrical imagery, as when he describes the evening as 'those inchoate and fugitive hours when the daylight begins to fade and darkness gradually spreads its cloak.'"

~Publishers Weekly

"Dongala is a leading voice among African writers."

~Passion des livres

"Dongala is a novelist and short story writer who has written about daily life in Central Africa, the horrors of war, and of his love for the music of John Coltrane."

~France Inter

"Hidden under the apparent farcical naïveté of each story, such as the one in which only the intoxicating powers of palm wine are able to temper the extra-terrestrials that have taken control over the planet, one finds some of the most beautiful words ever written about the dashed hopes of newly independent African states, summoned like a distant echo by the profound tragedy of the genius saxophonist that was Coltrane."

~Africultures

"A major writer."

~Violaine Binet, Vogue

"A major figure in the renewal of African writing."

~Etonnants Voyageurs

"One of the most well-known collections of short stories in francophone Africa. . . . Beyond the political dimension, it is the artist-author's liberty that comes to the surface in the collection and that allows the musicality of language to transcend territorial, ideological and generic borders, all in the relentless pursuit of the absolute."

~Virginie Brinker, La Plume Francophone

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"The translation feels fresh and alive, while the introductory material by Dominic Thomas gives a great sense of Dongala's work in detailed biographical and historical contexts. The publication of an English version of Dongala's collection would be something to celebrate in itself."

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~AiW