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“….An expansive, eclectic, and innovative novel.”—Women's Review of Books
A modern-day Things Fall Apart, The Amputated Memory explores the ways in which an African woman’s memory preserves, and strategically forgets, moments in her tumultuous past as well as the cultural past of her country, in the hopes of making a healthier future possible.
Pinned between the political ambitions of her philandering father, the colonial and global influences of encroaching and exploitative governments, and the traditions of her Cameroon village, Halla Njokè recalls childhood traumas and reconstructs forgotten experiences to reclaim her sense of self. Winner of the Noma Award—previous honorees include Mamphela Ramphele, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Ken Saro-Wiwa—The Amputated Memory was called by the Noma jury “a truly remarkable achievement . . . a deeply felt presentation of the female condition in Africa; and a celebration of women as the country’s memory.”
“Werewere Liking’s novel or ‘chant-roman’ is a truly remarkable achievement illustrating the potential of African literature to renew and regenerate its forms. Through innovative and fully successful use of traditional songs, praise-naming, lullaby, letters and myth, the novel is unique in its form.” —The 25th Noma Award for Publishing in Africa
“Weaving together history and memory…Liking recaptures the Cameroonian anticolonial resistance movement in the late fifties. And she does so very compellingly through women who have refused to remain victims and who heal both their public and personal trauma.” —Odile Cazenave, Boston University, author of A New Generation of African Writers in Paris and Rebellious Women
"Fascinating…Liking's writing can be gorgeously lyrical and full of wisdom and humor . . . evoking a musical flow from one chapter to the next." —MultiCultural Review
"Liking's grand goal—creating a literary purgative meant to heal Africa—results in an expansive, eclectic, and innovative novel." —Women's Review of Books
Since 1978, Cameroon-born artiste extraordinaire Werewere Liking has been living in the Ivory Coast, where she established the Village Ki-Yi, a self-supporting center for the performing and fine arts. A singer, dancer, actor, playwright, songwriter, and author of two titles previously published in the United States, Liking has been honored across the globe for her writing and theater work; she has performed at such venues as the Kennedy Center.
Marjolijn de Jager teaches French, Dutch, and literary translation at New York University and works as an independent literary translator, most recently on Assia Djebar’s Children of the New World.
Michelle Mielly received her PhD from Harvard University and is now teaching in the Department of Comparative Literature at Pennsylvania State University.