The Story of the Madman

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Widely acclaimed when first published in French in 1994, MongoBeti's tenth novel, L'histoire du fou, continues the author's humorous yet fiercecriticism of the colonial system in Africa and its legacy of governmentalcorruption.Translated here as "The Story of theMadman, " the novel gives the English-speaking world Beti's comicsatire of the fictional Chief Zoa teleu and his favorite sons Zoa toa and Narcisse.In a modern fable that Beti uses to illustrate the problems of a people'sdisintegrating values in a postcolonial state, Chief Zoa teleu, a puppet under twodictatorial regimes, is swept into the frontline of politics, where his fortunesunravel. Along with his caustic portrayal of failed government -- clearly areflection of his native Cameroon -- Beti's realism provides an intriguing view ofthe struggle for balance between traditional life and imminent change in Africanculture.