Gallery Bundu: A Story about an African Past

by Paul Stoller

There comes a time for most of us when we knowingly face a decision of such consequence that it will drastically affect the shape of our lives. Some people are prepared to carry the weight of that decision. David Lyons, the protagonist of Gallery Bundu , was not.

In Paul Stoller's work of fiction framed by African storytelling, David is the 52-year-old co-owner of Gallery Bundu, an African art shop in New York City. As a young man in the late 1960s, he joined the Peace Corps to avoid the draft. Assigned to teach English in Niger, he was eager to seek out adventure, and he found it—from drugged-out American expatriates and mamba-filled forests to seductive African women. In the course of his stay in Niger, David meets and falls in love with Zeinabou, a strikingly beautiful woman who professes her love to him, though David believes that he is not the only man she dates. Two weeks before his anticipated return to the United States, Zeinabou informs David that she is pregnant with what she believes is his child. Not knowing how to react, David flees Niger and returns to America ridden with guilt. The hastiness of David's decision will shadow his every move for the rest of his life and will lead him to eventually return to Niger and try to make amends.

Beautifully written and deeply felt, Gallery Bundu is a cautionary tale about the impulses of youth and the unyielding grip of regret. Stoller's vivid language and style allow readers, through David's recollections, to touch, taste, and smell the sensations of West Africa—the tasty aroma of a traditional African fish stew, the spectacle of witches, and the humorous and often frightening experiences of traveling in the bush. A lyrical novel of decisions and destiny, Gallery Bundu is rich in character and detail, bringing anthropology to a new literary height.

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Paul Stoller is an anthropologist and novelist who teaches anthropology at West Chester University. He has conducted ethnographic research in the Republic of Niger in West Africa and among West African immigrants in New York City. His books, novels and memoirs are attempts to convey the wisdom of African systems of thought. He is currently doing research on family life among West African immigrants in New York City and is at work on a new novel, The Sorcerer's Burden and a new work of non-fiction, The Business of Social Relations: Global Resilience Among West Africans in the World. His most recent book, The Power of the Bertween: An Anthropological Odyssey was published in December 2008 by The University of Chicago Press. Paul has a new website, paulstoller.com which up and running.

Reviews

[Lauren]

This was a digestible story - I read it in one sitting - but was ultimately forgettable, and pales in comparison to what you could pick up from instead reading Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka or Buchi Emecheta. Perhaps that's obvious given it's written by an anthropologist, rather than an African; then again, this book is no "Return to Laughter," either. I would be much more interested to read some of Stoller's ethnographies, and hope to in the future.