The rift /

This novel from Zaire poses fascinating questions about the nature of history, the value of language, and the problem of personal identity. At its core is a personal journal written by a young African historian the week before his unexplained death and authenticated by a fellow academic to whom the journal is entrusted. Several threads wind through the historian's diary--his ongoing research on the Kuba people, sessions with a psychiatrist to understand the past, and relationships with two women, a European and an African. One of the historian's goals is to "decolonize knowledge," to shatter stereotypes of Africa perpetuated by Western historians. But he recognizes the treacherous nature of language, wondering if his own words will really represent the Kuba faithfully and recognizing that words can be used as "Band-aids" to hide the misery of reality. Though the novel overwhelms with a tone of paralysis and fatigue and is filled with references to traps and prisons, there are also images of joy and tenderness. Valuable for upper-level undergraduate and graduate libraries. L. W. Yoder; Davidson College