His seminary education has exiled him bit by bit from his own people, it ‘prepared me well to despise my own people and their beliefs. When he returns home, he finds himself estranged from his family and his community, but in effect he is also estranged from himself. After his school education he is sent to Rome where he becomes a priest. It is set in an un-named African country, but which could very well be the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), Mudimbe’s own country of origin.Īs a young boy, Pierre joins the Catholic missionary school. The story follows Pierre’s journey in pursuit of acceptance and self-acceptance. The protagonist of in Between Tides is Pierre Landu, a young African man who is struggling with identity in an age of political turmoil. However, although the novels are perhaps a more easily accessible medium which reaches a different audience, Mudimbe’s novels are little known and hardly read beyond the circles of literature critics. As he explained on several occasions, his novels are for Mudimbe himself just another medium through which he expresses his thoughts and ideas. These are also returning themes in his novels. The historic interaction between Africa and the Western world, and its implications on identity are important themes that are central in Mudimbe’s philosophy. It is an important book for historians of Africa and in fact for all Africanists, because it reflects on our work on such a profound level. It subsequently raises the question of what the meaning of Africa and being African is. His most famous scholarly work is 'The Invention of Africa' in which he discusses the historic systems of knowledge through which we have come to understand Africa. He has, however, written several novels, many of which have been translated in English, and some of which have won prestigious awards. Mudimbe is known as a philosopher and scholar, much less as a novelist.
I found it such a compelling story, written in beautiful prose full of strong phrases, that I’ve been meaning to read it again ever since. I read it for the first time a few years ago. Mudimbe’s 'Between Tides' is such a book. Then there is always a pile of books that blink seductively because I should really read them again.
There are lots of books on the reading pile at home, most of them staring angrily at me because I haven’t finished reading them and then picked up something else.
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