Parables and Fables: Exegesis, Textuality, and Politics in Central Africa

by V.Y. Mudimbe

Winner of the 2014 Brittingham Prize in Poetry, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye
The word tyrant carries negative connotations, but in this new collection, Joanne Diaz tries to understand what makes tyranny so compelling, even seductive. These dynamic, funny, often poignant poems investigate the nature of tyranny in all of its forms political, cultural, familial, and erotic. Poems about Stalin, Lenin, and Castro appear beside poems about deeply personal histories. The result is a powerful exploration of desire, grief, and loss in a world where private relationships are always illuminated and informed by larger, more despotic forces.
Winner, Midwest Book Award for Poetry, Midwest Independent Publishers Association"

264 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1991

About the author

Valentin-Yves Mudimbe was a Congolese philosopher, professor, and author of poems, novels, as well as books and articles on African culture and intellectual history. Mudimbe was Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of Romance Studies and professor of comparative literature at Duke University and maître de conférences at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.