![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hey,
So I recently finished up Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila and translated by Roland Glasser. Mr. Mujila was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo and now resides in Austria. He's done a lot of various writing about the Congo and Tram 83 is his first novel.
And it's a very literary novel. This isn't an artifact of translation, the book reads more like a prose-poem than an actual piece of prose. There is a basic plot. Lucien is returning to the City-State after a stay in Europe trying to get his writing going again. He's met by his old friend Requiem who has stayed in the City-State and gets by doing various dodgy things. Everyone and everything in the City-State revolves around the mines and Tram 83, a nightclub-bar where everyone goes to see and be seen, conduct some business and some pleasure as well.
But beyond this basic skeleton, the book is really about the chaotic atmosphere. The book often spirals off into long lists of people, of sensations, of sounds. The dialogue isn't clearly demarcated so it can be hard to tell who is speaking to whom and it's often intercut with other conversations, usually prostitutes trying to attract customers or waitresses demanding tips.
You're interested in the contrast between upright Lucien who wants to do the right thing and Requiem who's always working an angle, and the book merely sets up little situations one after the other to contrast them even if there's not a lot of larger plot. The prose, however, shows a great deal of deft construction and I wound up highlighting a number of passages from the book.
Overall, it's an interesting book and I think there's a lot to pick through, but it's not a straight read so pick it up if you enjoy the journey more than the destination.
later
Tom
So I recently finished up Tram 83 by Fiston Mwanza Mujila and translated by Roland Glasser. Mr. Mujila was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo and now resides in Austria. He's done a lot of various writing about the Congo and Tram 83 is his first novel.
And it's a very literary novel. This isn't an artifact of translation, the book reads more like a prose-poem than an actual piece of prose. There is a basic plot. Lucien is returning to the City-State after a stay in Europe trying to get his writing going again. He's met by his old friend Requiem who has stayed in the City-State and gets by doing various dodgy things. Everyone and everything in the City-State revolves around the mines and Tram 83, a nightclub-bar where everyone goes to see and be seen, conduct some business and some pleasure as well.
But beyond this basic skeleton, the book is really about the chaotic atmosphere. The book often spirals off into long lists of people, of sensations, of sounds. The dialogue isn't clearly demarcated so it can be hard to tell who is speaking to whom and it's often intercut with other conversations, usually prostitutes trying to attract customers or waitresses demanding tips.
You're interested in the contrast between upright Lucien who wants to do the right thing and Requiem who's always working an angle, and the book merely sets up little situations one after the other to contrast them even if there's not a lot of larger plot. The prose, however, shows a great deal of deft construction and I wound up highlighting a number of passages from the book.
Overall, it's an interesting book and I think there's a lot to pick through, but it's not a straight read so pick it up if you enjoy the journey more than the destination.
later
Tom
