Armchair Travels Through Literary Africa

by Caroline on June 4th, 2007

If you’re fascinated with the beauty, diversity and troubled history of the African continent – but prefer to experience it all from the comfort of an armchair, then Geoff Wisner’s new book, A Basket of Leaves, is for you.

It’s the quintessential reader’s guide to the books that capture the spirit of the continent, from the desert of Algeria and the savannahs of Kenya, to the jungles of Equatorial Guinea and the coastline of South Africa. Wisner’s book, a first of its kind, presents reviews and excerpts from notable books from each of the fifty-four countries in Africa.

Among the famous works explored are Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, which considers the effects of colonialism on Igbo society in Nigeria, and is considered by many to be one of the finest novels ever written.

Other books of note in the compilation include:

The Viceroy of Ouidah, a fictionalised account of the slave trade in Benin, based on the true story of Brazilian adventurer Francisco Manoel de Silva, by Bruce Chatwin.
Maya Angelou’s All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes, her fifth memoir, in which she shows a deepening connection with her African past.
Age of Iron by JM Coetzee, framed as an extended letter from a dying South African woman to her distant offspring who have fled the country’s political turmoil.
The murdered Diana Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist, which remains the bestselling book about gorillas of all time.

But Wisner doesn’t focus only on the famous, he also draws attention to works by lesser-known writers. What’s more, he’s no couch potato pundit: he knows and understands Africa intimately.

Currently working in New York as a copywriter, he’s lived and worked in Zimbabwe, travelled in Malawi, raised funds for political prisoners in South Africa and Namibia during the apartheid years, edited a newsletter on southern Africa, and read hundreds of books about every conceivable corner of the vast continent.

A Basket of Leaves is accordingly an unusually revealing book about Africa, seen from the perspective of many great writers, and a must-have for all who take an interest in African literature, history and contemporary affairs.