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A review by raeofsunlight
Congo Inc.: Bismarck's Testament by Marjolijn De Jager, In Koli Jean Bofane
4.0
Trigger warnings: extreme sexual violence, child abuse, torture, mass murder
I actively did not enjoy the process of reading this book (see trigger warnings as to why). But a month after finishing, it has really stuck with me. The more I think about it, the more I feel the achievement of Bofane’s work, and the importance of his being read more widely.
Now available in translation, this is one of the only works by a Congolese author you can actually read in English (please comment below if you know any other good translated Congolese fiction - I’ve had trouble finding any). You feel the difference immediately in Bofane’s writing. It’s not an outsider using the Congo as a lens through which to examine their and their country’s own issues. Congo Inc. unashamedly focuses on a very specific truth: the condition of modern DRC at a human and environmental level.
A friend described Congo Inc. as, “like being slapped round the face with a book,” and I know exactly what she means. This book does not pander to its readers, and it does not pander to the West. Subtitled “Bismark’s Testament,” whilst being a very modern novel, it demonstrates how the effects of colonialism are woven into every facet of the country to this day.
Bofane takes all the things we know deep down go on in the world but have the privilege to avoid thinking about, and lays them bare in front of us. Moreover, he demonstrates how greed for Congo’s vast natural resources has not only fuelled violence within DRC, but has enabled the occurrence of some of the worst atrocities in modern Western history.
Following the globalisation-obsessed Pygmy, Isookanga, Bofane introduces us to a vast, almost too vast, array of characters. The overwhelmed feeling this novel gives us is purposeful: like the bustling streets of Kinshasa this novel heaves with a sense of place, of disorder, of the claustrophobia created by invisible barriers to movement and progress.
DRC is a deeply relevant country, an integral part of the modern world that we should all learn more about. I recommend anyone looking for a perspective-expanding novel to read this one.
I actively did not enjoy the process of reading this book (see trigger warnings as to why). But a month after finishing, it has really stuck with me. The more I think about it, the more I feel the achievement of Bofane’s work, and the importance of his being read more widely.
Now available in translation, this is one of the only works by a Congolese author you can actually read in English (please comment below if you know any other good translated Congolese fiction - I’ve had trouble finding any). You feel the difference immediately in Bofane’s writing. It’s not an outsider using the Congo as a lens through which to examine their and their country’s own issues. Congo Inc. unashamedly focuses on a very specific truth: the condition of modern DRC at a human and environmental level.
A friend described Congo Inc. as, “like being slapped round the face with a book,” and I know exactly what she means. This book does not pander to its readers, and it does not pander to the West. Subtitled “Bismark’s Testament,” whilst being a very modern novel, it demonstrates how the effects of colonialism are woven into every facet of the country to this day.
Bofane takes all the things we know deep down go on in the world but have the privilege to avoid thinking about, and lays them bare in front of us. Moreover, he demonstrates how greed for Congo’s vast natural resources has not only fuelled violence within DRC, but has enabled the occurrence of some of the worst atrocities in modern Western history.
Following the globalisation-obsessed Pygmy, Isookanga, Bofane introduces us to a vast, almost too vast, array of characters. The overwhelmed feeling this novel gives us is purposeful: like the bustling streets of Kinshasa this novel heaves with a sense of place, of disorder, of the claustrophobia created by invisible barriers to movement and progress.
DRC is a deeply relevant country, an integral part of the modern world that we should all learn more about. I recommend anyone looking for a perspective-expanding novel to read this one.