This is initially seen through the eyes of the eldest son, Tiekoro Traore, when he witnesses, with great fascination, a Muslim for the first time, who is penning words with a pointed stick and ink – Teikoro is seeing the “magic” of writing. The kingdom of Segu, steeped in customary animist beliefs, and in the traditions of story-telling, oral history, and griots’ singing chronicles, is changing. The novel is structured in five parts: not representative of his five wives, but of his son’s migratory journeys and personal growth as the cultures of West Africa fuse and interweave, rise and decline, causing the sons to question their identities. Segu is based around the patriarch of the Traore family, Dousika, and his four sons: Teikoro and Naba from his first wife, Nya Siga, the offspring of Slave, his third wife and Malobali from his fourth of five wives. It portrays the Bambara people during the spread of Islam from the east, the slave trade from the west, and the introduction of trade and commerce from Europe. In an age when publishers are quick to anoint an author and bestow classic status on any bestseller, it is refreshing to come upon a title worthy of the honour by a writer deserving of praise.Ĭommencing in 1797 in the kingdom of Segu in West Africa, an oblong tract of land south of Timbuktu and surrounding Bamako, now the capital of Mali, Conde’s novel unearths the traditions, struggles, conflicts, and triumphs of a family and its culture over the course of a century. At the same time it zones in and traces the mixed fortunes and internal struggles of key members of the aristocratic Traore family.įirst published in France in 1984, then the United States in 1987, Guadeloupe-born Condé’s masterpiece is now available to a wider readership after joining the ranks of Penguin Modern Classics.

“Segu loves the smell of gunpowder and the taste of blood.” The book charts the turbulent history of the West African kingdom of Segu, and the plight of its people, the Bambara.

“Segu wasn’t made for peace,” says one of the characters in Maryse Condé’s sprawling, stunning third novel.

Segu by Maryse Condé