Black Bazaar

by Alain Mabanckou, Sarah Ardizzone (Translator)

Buttocks Man is down on his uppers. His girlfriend, Original Colour, has cleared out of their Paris studio and run off to the Congo with a vertically challenged drummer known as The Mongrel. She's taken their daughter with her. Meanwhile, a racist neighbour spies on him something wicked, accusing him of 'digging a hole in the Dole'. And his drinking buddies at Jips, the Afro-Cuban bar in Les Halles, pour scorn on Black Bazaar, the journal he keeps to log his sorrows. There are days when only the Arab in the corner shop has a kind word; while at night his dreams are stalked by the cannibal pygmies of Gabon. Then again, Buttocks Man wears no ordinary uppers. He has style, bags of it (suitcases of crocodile and anaconda Westons, to be precise). He's a dandy from the Bacongo district of Brazzaville - AKA a sapeur or member of the Society of Ambience-makers and People of Elegance. But is flaunting sartorial chic against tough times enough for Buttocks Man to cut it in the City of Light?

Genres: Africa, Fiction, France, African Literature, Novels, Literature, Contemporary

224 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 8, 2009

About the author

Alain Mabanckou was born in 1966 in Congo-Brazzaville (French Congo). He currently resides in Los Angeles, where he teaches literature at UCLA, having previously spent four years at the University of Michigan. Mabanckou will be a Fellow in the Humanities Council at Princeton University in 2007-2008. One of Francophone Africa's most prolific contemporary writers, he is the author of six volumes of poetry and six novels. He received the Sub-Saharan Africa Literary Prize in 1999 for his first novel, Blue-White-Red, the Prize of the Five Francophone Continents for Broken Glass, and the Prix Renaudot in 2006 for Memoirs of a Porcupine. He was selected by the French publishing trade journal Lire as one of the fifty writers to watch out for in the coming century. His most recent book is African Psycho.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well-written--a discursive novel, written in circles--not very linear! But full of very funny rants on serious subjects.

[Marianna the Booklover · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nie mogę powiedzieć, żeby mnie ta książka zwaliła z nóg, ale mimo to była to dobra lektura. Trafiło do mnie poczucie humoru autora, a wiele obserwacji dotyczącej afrykańsko-karaibskiej diaspory w Paryżu jest naprawdę trafnych. Nie ma tu jakiejś szczególnej fabuły. Ot, kongijski elegant zwany Zadkologiem (gdyż w tej części kobiecego ciała lubuje się najbardziej) zostaje porzucony przez swoją partnerkę, Pierwotną Barwę, która zabiera ich córkę i wyjeżdża z innym facetem do Konga - co ważne, nie tego dużego, lecz tego małego (Congo-Brazzaville; to stamtąd pochodzi autor). Zadkolog próbuje się pozbierać i w ramach terapii zaczyna spisywać swoje codzienne doświadczenia. Opisuje swoich kumpli z baru, nieznośnego sąsiada-rasistę (który, jak się okazuje, sam biały wcale nie jest), to, jak poznał Pierwotną Barwę, itd. Potrafiłam go sobie wyobrazić w tych wspaniałych, drogich garniturach skrojonych na miarę, bo już kiedyś czytałam o kongijskich dandysach należących do SAPE (Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes; Jacek Giszczak zachował ten skrót, cudownie tłumacząc tę nazwę jako Stowarzyszenie Amantów, Pedantów i Elegantów) - polecam wyguglować i pooglądać przed lekturą :D Dużo też w tej książce odniesień do klasyki literatury, muzyki i sztuki. Wyobraźcie sobie tylko tych czarnoskórych intelektualistów przesiadujących w barach i dyskutujących nad piwem pelforth o kondycji otaczającego ich świata, rzucając cytatami z dzieł przeróżnych.

Nie wiem, czy po lekturze "Black Bazaru" od razu bym się zdecydowała na czytanie innych książek Alaina Mabanckou, gdybym go nie zobaczyła na żywo na Literackim Sopocie w zeszły weekend. To jest naprawdę fajny człowiek! Słuchałam go z przyjemnością i to mnie zachęciło do lepszego zapoznania się z jego twórczością. Na Kindle'u czekają "Zwierzenia jeżozwierza", a na półce odkryłam "Jutro skończę dwadzieścia lat" :)

[Pedro · Rating 3 out of 5]

El narrador, apodado el culólogo por su barra de amigos en un bar de París, procura vestirse como un dandi, con la mejor ropa.

En la novela, sin mucho hilo conductor, nos va contando lo que vive, intercalado con comentarios sobre diversos temas, con su desparpajo habitual, que le permite mofarse de los clichés, correcciones políticas y slogans políticos.

Entre sus amigos, además de la barra, incluye al haitiano Louis-Philippe Dalembert, autor de "El lápiz del buen Dios no tiene goma, quien lo introduce a la literatura y lo induce a escribir lo que finalmente es esta novela.

Entretenido para leer, y con comentarios muy interesantes, aunque por momentos el mismo estilo cansa un poco. Un 3 clavado.

Mabanckou ambienta sus novelas donde nació y creció, Pont Noire, Ciudad portuaria de la República de Congo (ex-Congo Francés, o Congo Brazzaville).

[Bloodorange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brilliant for over one hundred pages, then started to be monotonous, and the spark was gone.

[awesomatik.de · Rating 3 out of 5]

My sister recommended this book to me after hearing good reviews in the radio.

It's a good quick read. There is no strong story, it's more or less an accumulation of anecdotes about the life of the black community in Paris. About everyday life, the relationship with the home-country and the coping with the history of conolization. This may sound hard to read but it's told in a humorous way. The narrator and most of the characters are likable and funny (even though they don't always act like that).
I especially like the dialogues with the "corner arab", who runs a shop in the street of the narrator. Mabanckou doesn't care about political correctness which makes the dialogues fresh and interesting.
Unfortunately the story fell off towards the end. The last pages read more like a draft and feel rushed and incoherent.

Since i'm half french and part of my family lives in Paris, it was fascinating for me to get to know the african spirit of the city.

All in all not a masterpiece but read it if you're interested in the topic.

[Starlon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mabanckou is that insidious familiar every great countries literature needs. He is erudite yet quick to make a bawdy joke. He is stylistic but never losing sight of the oral tradition. . This book seems to be really critiquing French colonialism in the many diverse ways. Unfortunately I know little to nothing about French politics so much b of this went over my head. The real star of this book are the sections specifically on literature. Mabanckou pokes fun at the notion of a monolithic African literature throughout much of his works but this one specifically rang with a special kind of anger and hilarity. Something like a cross between Bernhard and Vonnegut. Recommend in conjunction with Broken Glass and Memoirs of a Porcupine.

[Moushine Zahr · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fiction story is about the narrator counting to readers his life story as an African immigrant from small Congo living in Paris. The narrator wrote about his African immigrant friends from a local bar, his ex-girlfriend, a French born with African parents, his past in Congo prior to immigrating and his life in Paris ever since arriving. Most of the story is set in Paris in the 1990's/2000's and only a small part of it is set in Congo. Through narration, dialogues, and/or descriptions of various characters, the author pushed to the extreme limit of absurdity/satirism/sarcasm the stereotypical images of certain ideas and people in order to denounce discrimination/racism and/or contradict negative sterotypes.

Unfortunately, this fiction story doesn't have an intrigue to follow, doesn't include any adventures/actions to read. The narrator tells his own life as it is. The characters are all described superficialy as most of them are seen in only one place acting in one way only, described only by their nicknames and their country of origin with no indepth development and analysis. There's not much creativity or originality.

If you're interested in lives of African immigrant in France, this book could be for you. If you're interested in an African story, this book isn't for you. This book denounces racism and stereotypes through some sort of twisted satirism.

[Tumelo Moleleki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I enjoyed the bits about life in Pointe-Noire and the education about how it came about that there's 2 countries with the name Congo in them. I had wondered what had happened to Zaire. I vaguely remembered. I also like that a lot of real people, including authors and musicians, are cited in the book. When I got to the part where they are arguing about Miles Davis being ugly or not ugly, I had to Google him to see who I agreed with since I know of him but never really knew what he looked like.

The protagonist was pretty honest about his opinions and challenges. Could have been likeable if he didn't have such detestable vices...

This books is set in France more than it is set in Congo-Brazzaville or little Congo as it is referred in the book.

I found some part of the story hard to follow, especially in the beginning.

The part about using a dead man's identity card had me thinking about Guy from this french book I read about a guy who had amnesia and went in search his true identify only to discover that his identify ere the memory loss was also a fake one.

[Seyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like Alain Mabanckou and can easily relate with the mixed bag of characters and situations in Africa and the diaspora he usually explores. This time characters seemed a bit half baked and pale copies of the more successful ones encountered in his "Broken Glass" and batshit crazy "Memoirs of a Porcupine. Not a bad intro but in my opinion not his best work

[الخنساء]

الرواية توضح أحوال المهاجرين الأفارقة في فرنسا من زاويتهم وبصوتهم، تبرريهم للفساد والفوضى والسرقات، وتدخل فرنسا المباشر والفج في دولهم حتى اليوم ومواقفهم منها مابين معارض ومؤيد ...
الترجمة جيدة والرواية متوسطة لكنها ممتعة بسبب حداثة الموضوع بالنسبة لي.

[Owen Townend · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll be honest: I picked up this book because of the cover. I was drawn to the dapper gentleman in yellow, who I soon came to know as 'The Buttologist'.

Black Bazaar is his story, or rather a fictionalised form of Mabanckou's life as a Congolese man in France, navigating his local community of African diaspora. After his girlfriend and daughter leave him for a charming drummer, our protagonist takes to writing out his feelings and experiences in diary form. Despite this overarching plot never quite solidifying, the book contains a series of amusing and informative discussions about a range of subjects from post-colonial issues to cuckoldry to assessing the beauty of women's 'b-sides'. Bearing the nickname 'Buttologist', our protagonist proves a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to the derrière.

The humourous dialogues were the biggest draw for me, vividly translated by Sarah Ardizzone. The mercurial absurdity of people that the Buttologist calls drinking buddies, girlfriends and neighbours, put me in mind of Kafka but with much more colour and indisputable politics. Some of the ideologies contained in Black Bazaar have never occurred to me before now, living in my White Anglo world.

That's precisely where Black Bazaar excels for me: in offering a readable introduction to the lives of people of colour living in France at the time of Mabanckou's writing. It's a brief education with acerbic wit but it worked in my case.

I recommend Black Bazaar to those interested in culture clashes with a satirical edge.

[Andy Weston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Buttologist, christened because of his admiration of women's backsides, lives in a bedsit in Paris; not ideal but preferable to the cramped dormitory he shared when he first arrived in France with a fake ID card 15 years ago. Originally from Brazzaville Congo (not the Big Congo, which 'still should be called Zaire'), Buttologist now works for a printing company and hangs out with his fellow immigrant friends at an Afro-Cuban bar in Les Halles, where he enjoys Pelforth beer and women-watching. As depicted on the cover, he is a snappy dresser, a boulevardier dandy type character in his crocodile-skin Westons and tailor-made Italian suit, who relishes in expressing his views on pretty much everything.
Though I didn't often find the humour to my taste, this is a novel full of life, rather than plot. Mabanckou's cast of characters are the real highlight, from the uncouth and cynical crowd at Jip's bar, to the sympathetic "Arab on the corner", and his girlfriend, Original Colour, who has left him to return to Brazzaville with his former Martiniquais neighbour, Mr Hippocratic.
With Sevlon's The Lonely Londoners it would be in good company.
It’s my third Mabanckou; I didn’t get on so well with Memoirs of A Porcupine, but enjoyed Black Moses. He’s from Congo-Brazzaville and writes in French.

[Sara Lari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Récit fluide, rempli d’anectodes du quotidien.

[Paweł · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jak to jest być elegantem z Konga, mieszkającym we Francji? Czym zajmuje się zadkolog? Czy twój arabski sklepikarz musi o tobie wiedzieć wszystko? Jaka jest Pierwotna Barwa i jak to jest mieć czarnoskórego sąsiada, który nie cierpi Murzynów? To wszystko i o wiele więcej w krótkiej, lecz napisanej z lekkością powieści Alaina Mabanckou.
Nie oczekiwałem tak przyjemnej lektury, bo wydawało mi się, że będzie to książka obarczona brzemieniem społecznych rozrachunków i zdeterminowana emigranckim punktem widzenia. Nic z tych rzeczy - dowcipne spostrzeżenia odnośnie środowiska "francuskich afrykańczyków", przeplatają się z obserwacjami godnymi zasiedziałego mieszkańca Paryża i całkiem zdystansowanymi ironicznymi ocenami polityki kacyków w Wybrzeżu Kości Słoniowej, czy Kongu (którymś z dwóch opisanych).

[Tondi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Satire can reveal uncomfortable truths. Mabanckou is masterful at using satire to disarm readers, without making it feel like a confrontation. The life of a Congolese dandy living under a false identity in Paris is complex yet predictable, mundane and repetitive.

Mabanckou delivers an interesting story about the psyche of an immigrant man. How his story is reflected in the lives of men like him from Cameroon, Ivory Coast, "The Big" Congo, and even Haiti. They share the commonality of running away from a life of strife but not quite attaining satisfaction - in their jobs, relationships, et all.

4 Stars!

[Rowizyx · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ironico e divertente, ma molto schietto nell'osservare i comportamenti dei neri a Parigi. Neri che per noi in fondo sono tutti uguali, nella nostra ignoranza ma vallo a dire a un congolese e a un ciadiano e avranno parecchio da ridire in merito. L'ironia è la chicca di questo libro. Una lettura molto piacevole.

[Bruce Humes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this novel first in French, and loved it.

Then I decided to read the English rendition by Sarah Ardizzone.

I cannot emphasize how pleasantly surprised I was by the English. I did not compare the texts line by line, but the translation seemed to be absolutely spot on, and I felt that had I read only the English, I would still have come away nothing "lost in translation."

Impressive!

[PATRICE PRIVAT · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not convinced at first (lack of style) but as I got along the reading, I liked it more; what he says about Africans and West Indians was interesting; Also he convinced me that I should buy Haitian writers. I just did.

[Pierre-emmanuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pas entièrement convaincu par ce livre. Autant il y a quelques moments vraiment prenants avec une langue savoureuse, autant certaines trivialités brisent la poésie du texte.

[Erich Cavalcanti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Por um lado, o narrador tem coisas interessantes. Mostra um pouco sobre os imigrantes na França, que em um certo "revanchismo" colonial acupam aos poucos Paris. Eu já tinha visto imagens do tal movimento La Sape que se "apropria" da estética europeia e a transforma, mas achei interessante a descrição colocada pelo narrador. Esses aspectos de choque cultural tornam o livro interessante. E não ficamos somente na questão Europa-África, pois também vemos o olhar de um árabe na história. Além do fato de que várias nacionalidades do continente africano são representadas. Às vezes em concordância, às vezes em discordância.

Por outro lado, o narrador em si me parece um idiota e seu romance pessoal me incomoda. Primeiro, ele me lembra a figura básica que Machado de Assis representa e nunca envelhece: o janota que mora em um barraco. A aparência aos outros é perfeita, mas se você olhar bem de perto (for olhar onde mora) verá que vive na miséria para manter as aparências. Depois, vemos ele como um frouxo e covarde. Ele sabe que está sendo traído e não faz nada. Um simples se afastar já basta. Ele mesmo alega, desde o início da narrativa, que não tinha nenhum vínculo formal com a mulher. O perfil dele de fraco me incomoda, pois vamos vendo uma sucessão de eventos desnecessários.

A nota acabou ficando 3 pois ao longo da leitura fui ficando com a sensação de que o texto estava enrolando o leitor, ao invés de contando alguma história ou fazendo alguma reflexão. Me lembrou um pouco uma palestra aleatória que vi uma vez sobre "Tempo", onde o palestrante simplesmente ficou enrolando a plateia.

[Daniel Ben-Horin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an odd book to review. It is ‘about’ race and sex in a way that can obscure its literary quality. Meaning: A black person will certainly react very differently to it than a white person. And a woman very differently than a man. Of course, you could say that about almost every work of art, but I think it’s true to an extreme about Black Bazaar.

All that said, as an old white guy who loves Paris, I really enjoyed this book. I summoned up Google maps and plotted the places mentioned in the novel: Chateau Rouge, Chateau d’Or, Etienne Marcel metro, Sarah Bernhardt cafe. Here’s a link if you’re interested: http://bit.ly/3k6gyoA It’s a straight north-south line in north Paris, between the 2nd and 3rd up through the 10th and 18th. I’ve spent a lot of time near that line but the world of Black Bazaar was hidden from me.

The book I thought of as I read was one of my favorites, The Good Soldier Schweik. In both books, the protagonist is a kind of wise fool, completely assured in his world view, mystified by what the rest of the world calls ‘logic’. And both books are very funny.

Can you enjoy a book whose protagonist’s nickname is “the Buttologist” and which is full of ruminations on the possibly salubrious effects of colonialism? If so…

[Hélène Lamboley · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai bien aimé l’humour et le ton décalé de ce livre mais à la longue j’ai trouvé un peu lassante la superposition des discours souvent caricaturaux et racistes que rapporte le narrateur.
J’ai eu du mal à savoir où allait le livre. Finalement, les références intertextuelles se multiplient, ainsi que les avis et les points de vue mais on ne sait pas toujours ce que partage le narrateur et ce qu’il se contente de montrer comme une opinion existante et donc on ne sait exactement que retirer de sa lecture.
La fin aussi avec Sarah est trop rapide et je ne vois pas vraiment ce qu’elle veut montrer. Finalement le narrateur ne semble avoir trouvé le bonheur qu’en se comportant comme un blanc et en adoptant les codes de son amie. Est-ce une parodie ? Une critique ? Une constatation sur la manière dont les noirs peuvent intérioriser des attendus créés pour des blancs ?
Avec le titre, on pourrait même avoir l’impression que du côté des Noirs c’est le bazar, le désordre et la tromperie et que le bonheur est du côté des blancs. Là encore, si c’est une critique des préjugés sur les Noirs ce n’est pas clair ni si c’est une revendication d’une culture aux antipodes de la culture occidentale de la raison et de l’ordre

[penelopewanders]

J'avais trouvé ce livre abandonné à la gare de Lyon avec deux ou trois autres, et me devais de les sauver. Je ne connaissais pas cet auteur, mais comme je me suis donnée le défi de lire au moins un livre en français par mois, j'ai enfin pris celui-ci entre les mains.
Il s'agit du quotidien d'un jeune Congolais (le petit Congo, on précise) à Paris. Il partage ses journées entre son travail à temps partiel (quelquefois, mais guère mentionné dans le livre), divers cafés où il trouve des amis, des connaissances, des compatriotes et d'autres africains, les marchés et son studio, et peut-être le plus important, devant sa machine à écrire, ou il devient écrivain.
Il y a beaucoup d'humour, et il s'amuse beaucoup de la langue et les expressions françaises, tordues et remodelées, mais qui tombent parfaitement.
Un livre interessant.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

J'ai bien aimé ce livre que je décrirais comme une accumulation de pensées, d'anecdotes, et de références culturelles, politiques et historiques. Ce livre m'a fait découvrir un monde de la diaspora africaine contemporaine que je ne connaissais à peine.
Il n'y pas beaucoup d'intrigue, mais ce sont les dialogues imbibés de stéréotypes, d'insultes racistes et de critiques des dynamiques politiques en Afrique post-coloniale, qui rendent ce roman précieux et instructif.
Le style d'écriture m'a fait beaucoup pensé au courant de conscience (stream of consciousness) de Virginia Woolf. Le narrateur raconte son histoire d'abandon et de chagrin d'amour dans le détail, communique sa passion pour la littérature et la bière, sa patrie le petit Congo et surtout les faces B des femmes.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mabankou dresse encore un portrait (assez drôle) de la communauté africaine au sein de la France. Une Afrique désunie avec ses querelles d'ethnies. Des personnages colorés comme Paul du grand Congo, l'Ivoirien, le franco Ivoirien, Vladimir le camerounais, Louis-Philippe, l'écrivain Haïtien et le voisin antillais Mr Hippocrate. Tous donnent leur opinion sur la condition de l'homme noir en terrain blanc. Humour, dérision sont au rendez-vous. Certaines expressions sont hilarantes. Mais pour moi, Demais j'aurai vingt ans reste le meilleur de Mabankou

[Marianne Eskenazi · Rating 3 out of 5]

J’ai aimé les passages savoureux qui nous plongent dans les quartiers noirs de Paris, les vendeuses à la sauvette, les « sapeurs », les piliers de bar Afro tous plus vrais que nature. Il y a beaucoup de monologues hyper réalistes de personnages que l’on est sûr d’avoir déjà croisés.
Cependant, en termes d’intrigue, j’avoue que je reste sur ma faim. Il se passe bien peu de choses, c’est avant tout un livre d’ambiance à mon sens. J’ai lu ce petit livre assez lentement par manque d’intérêt.

[Austin Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a story that could be reduced to maybe a four-page dialectic without all the fuss. If you want to spend a lot of time learning what you probably already know about the French, read Black Bazaar.

[Joss · Rating 1 out of 5]

Non. J'aime beaucoup Mabankou, j'adore son style mais suivre pendant trois cent pages un abruti qui ne réalise même pas à quel point il est bête... Non. Je refuse de recommander les aventures d'un minable, même si c'est un minable africain qui vit à Paris.

[Phila_imani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drole, facile à lire... j'ai beaucoup aimé.

[Nathália Oderich Muniz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent !