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<dehoncl@ksu.edu> It seems to me that we should distinguish between that fiction written with Africa as a background, and the fiction about Africa, two very different points of view. For me Conrad's Heart of Darkness is more about the Baudelairian theme of the Island of Lesbos: the poet travels toward his dream. When he reaches the shores of that beautiful island, he sees cadavers hagging and being eaten by crows. For Naipul's Bend of the river, I remember more his white character a perfect caricature of the 50's-60's university professor who knew how to "solve African problems". Loti's *Roman d'un Spahi* is more about a very unappealing white soldier than about Africa. Jean Sermaye's *Barga* is about an African hunter and excellent in describing a way of life. Yet it is not a very engaging book. The book about the Mau-Mau uprising by Ruarke (?) while spending many pages on the Whites, does present African characters with the same desire of a realist representation (*Something of Value* was the title of that book). In general writers have a much easier time to talk about their own culture. The way white people, and Europe are described in African novels is as stereotyped as the way white novelists describe Africa.
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