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Click Download or Read Online button to get So Long A Letter Pdf Free Download book now. This site is like a library, Use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. This site is like a library, Use search box in the widget to get ebook that you want. So Long a Letter is a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel originally written in French by the. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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This novel is in the form of a letter, written by the widowed Ramatoulaye and describing her struggle for survival. It is the winner of the Noma Award.
Published June 28th 1989 by Heinemann Educational Books (first published 1981)
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Francis MuleyaPerhaps it may be more specific to refer to these challenges within their cultural context. It also asks what the specific problems men cause in…morePerhaps it may be more specific to refer to these challenges within their cultural context. It also asks what the specific problems men cause in adhering to the demands of culture/ society. Society should redefine morality lest we exacerbate tyranny of men to the darkest hue.(less)
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May 09, 2017Brina rated it really liked it
Shelves: african-lit, short-stories, 500-great-books-women
So Long A Letter by Mariama Ba is an entry in the book 500 Great Books by Women by Erica Baumeister. I am part of the goodreads group by the same name, and I have made it a long term goal to read as many of the choices as possible. Ba was born in Dakar, Senegal in 1929. She attended school and achieved a profession at a time when women in her country had few choices outside of marriage. Ahead of her time, Ba fought for equal rights for men and women both inside of and outside of the home. So Lon..more
Jan 09, 2013Cheryl rated it it was amazingRecommends it for: For the gender studies & African lit shelves
Shelves: africa, letters, french-oeuvre, post-colonial, women-and-books, international-intrigue, mesmerizing, short-shorts, fiction
'Ebb and tide of feeling: heat and dazzlement, the wood fires, the sharp green mango, bitten into in turns, a delicacy in our greedy mouths. I close my eyes.'
What you hear is the voice of the heartbroken Ramatoulaye, who has been forced into solitude (according to the dictates of Islam) to mourn the death of the husband who, when he lived, humiliated and abandoned her. This is an epistolary; a meditation on life and life's choices. It is an anguished plea from one conservative woman, to her li..more
What you hear is the voice of the heartbroken Ramatoulaye, who has been forced into solitude (according to the dictates of Islam) to mourn the death of the husband who, when he lived, humiliated and abandoned her. This is an epistolary; a meditation on life and life's choices. It is an anguished plea from one conservative woman, to her li..more
Sep 11, 2016Paul rated it it was amazing
A brief, well-crafted novella in the form of a letter between two middle-aged friends. The writer is Ramatoulaye; her husband, has died suddenly and she is has to remain in seclusion for four months and ten days as per her religious strictures (Islamic). The recipient is her friend Aissatou. Both women have had husband problems. Aissoutou’s husband had taken a second, much younger wife. She had divorced him as a result and had left to make a new life in America. Ramatoulaye’s husband had five ye..more
Jul 27, 2014Aubrey rated it it was amazing Shelves: 500-wm, reality-check, translated, french, person-of-everything, shorty-short, person-of-reality, person-of-translated, reality-translated, person-of-reality-translated
Each profession, intellectual or manual, deserves consideration, whether it requires painful physical effort or manual dexterity, wide knowledge or the patience of an ant. Ours, like that of a doctor, does not allow for any mistake. You don't joke with life, and life is both body and mind. To warp a soul is as much a sacrilege as murder.A comparison to Sleepless Nights is not too far apace, for what is more familiar of the epistolary form is counterbalanced by a less novelized perspective, exp..more
Shelves: 500gbw, daughters-of-africa, bechdel-pass, feminism
Mariama Ba has crammed into less than one hundred pages a luminously beautiful reflection of an intelligent, wilful, self-assured middle-aged woman painfully conscious of the limits of her power in a patriarchal society, that is also a hymn to the glory of friendship between women and to the strength, courage, imagination, tenderness and sensuality of women as whole human beings interconnected to lovers, children, family members and friends.
The language is elegant, fragrant of the rich, ringing..more
Jan 16, 2013K.D. Absolutely rated it really liked it · review of another editionThe language is elegant, fragrant of the rich, ringing..more
Recommended to K.D. by: 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (2006-2012)
Shelves: 1001-core, african, drama, epistolary, award-winning
Mariama Ba (1929-1982) was a Senegalese novelist, teacher, activist and feminist. During her lifetime she was only able to publish this book. Her two other works Scarlet Song and La Fonction politique des littératures africaines écrites came out after her death. This book, So Long a Letter, originally written in French, won the first Noma Prize for Publishing in Africa in 1980 and is now considered as one of Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century.
The book is basically a long series of lette..more
The book is basically a long series of lette..more
If I'm being honest, I want to like this more than I do. And it's not the subject matter or prose, it's the orientation. There's an awkward angle I just can't shake.
Let me explain.
This novella is in epistolary form: a long letter from an aging widow (who is progressive by her society's normative standards, perhaps boldly and bravely so) to her great friend, Aissatou. Both women have been transformed by their husbands' decision to make them co-wives. Ramatoulaye, our heroine, recounts her strug..more
Let me explain.
This novella is in epistolary form: a long letter from an aging widow (who is progressive by her society's normative standards, perhaps boldly and bravely so) to her great friend, Aissatou. Both women have been transformed by their husbands' decision to make them co-wives. Ramatoulaye, our heroine, recounts her strug..more
Dec 30, 2017Jonathan rated it it was amazing
Excellent. How many novels by Senegalese Muslim women have you read? Particularly ones dealing explicitly with both gender and religion? This is only about 80pages long, so is a quick read, and will probably help fill a gap in your reading which, in our current political climate, should be filled as a matter of some urgency.
Jul 26, 2016Claire McAlpine rated it it was amazing Shelves: letters, fiction, translated, senegalese-literature, around-the-world-2018, 500-great-books-by-women, favorites
An excellent Sunday afternoon read and pertinent to much that is being written and read in the media under the banner of the silencing of women today.
This short, articulate novella is actually a conversation, or a lengthy letter from one widow to her best friend, whom she hasn't seen for some years, but who is arriving tomorrow.
Our recent widow is reflecting on how she is unable to detach from memories of better times in the past, during those 25 years where she was happily married and the only..more
This short, articulate novella is actually a conversation, or a lengthy letter from one widow to her best friend, whom she hasn't seen for some years, but who is arriving tomorrow.
Our recent widow is reflecting on how she is unable to detach from memories of better times in the past, during those 25 years where she was happily married and the only..more
Jan 11, 2017Sookie rated it it was amazing
So long a letter is an intimate expose on Ramatoulaye's life as she writes a long letter to her life long friend, Aissatou. The two women have known since they were little girls and now with many children each, one is divorced and the other is a widow. The letter is written during the mourning period of passing of Ramatoulaye's husband. Being one of the co-wives, Ramatoulaye's situation in life is different from that of her friend. The two women see their lives, their future in a contrasting fas..more
Aug 13, 2009Melinda rated it really liked it
This novel is in the form of a letter, written by the widowed Ramatoulaye and describing her struggle for survival.
Muslim Ramatoulaye, a Senegalese abandoned wife adjusts to her new role with utter strength tinged with sorrowfulness.
Muslim Ramatoulaye, a Senegalese abandoned wife adjusts to her new role with utter strength tinged with sorrowfulness.
'From then on, my life changed. I had prepared myself for equal sharing, according to the precepts of Islam concerning polygamic life. I was left with empty hands. My children, who disagreed with my decision, sulked. In opposition to me, they represented a majority..more
What price the lot of African women under what has been patent patriarchal domination for years on end? Or specifically the plight of Moslem women in the continent? Of course this work excellently deals with this, and has rightly been considered something of a masterpiece for decades now. The author- now late- knew the subject matter inside out, and her 'long letter ' here to a female friend lays everything bare. How does a woman feel after being shoved aside by her husband for a very young woma..more
Oct 22, 2018Gabrielle Dubois rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
English version of this book: So Long a Letter
Reading the first sentences, I feel that I will love this book and its author:
'To confide drowns the pain.'
In this long letter to her female friend, Ramatoulaye tells her life, her pain, her hopes in a better future, in her children.
'The past fertilizes the present.'
'And though I loved this man passionately, I devoted to him thirty years of my life, I carried his twelve children. Adding a rival to my life was not enough. By loving another, he burned..more
Reading the first sentences, I feel that I will love this book and its author:
'To confide drowns the pain.'
In this long letter to her female friend, Ramatoulaye tells her life, her pain, her hopes in a better future, in her children.
'The past fertilizes the present.'
'And though I loved this man passionately, I devoted to him thirty years of my life, I carried his twelve children. Adding a rival to my life was not enough. By loving another, he burned..more
Aug 27, 2015Hadrian rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Elegant and emotionally revealing epistolary novel.
For all the narrator/protagonists' talk of being Muslim, a woman, an educated woman, in a country desperately trying to find its way after colonization, the first of multiple wives, I get a sense of a person living in a world which was not strictly made for their benefit. Theirs is the burden, not the fruit of the labor. But theirs is not a state of perpetual victimhood, but of support, stoicism and dignity.
For all the narrator/protagonists' talk of being Muslim, a woman, an educated woman, in a country desperately trying to find its way after colonization, the first of multiple wives, I get a sense of a person living in a world which was not strictly made for their benefit. Theirs is the burden, not the fruit of the labor. But theirs is not a state of perpetual victimhood, but of support, stoicism and dignity.
Sep 19, 2011Rowena rated it it was amazing
I haven't read this book since I was 13 or so but I remember loving it.
Jan 05, 2011Emily added it · review of another edition
It is fitting to follow a reading of Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman with Mariama Bâ's 1980 novella Une si longue lettre, because one thing that struck me about both works is the interrelation of feminism/female roles and the larger political scene in the country at large. In this regard the two works could also form a parallel with Naguib Mahfouz's Palace Walk: in all three pieces, whether they treat of the French Revolution or Senegal's independence from France,..more
Aug 20, 2017Sotiris Karaiskos rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Μία γυναίκα στη Σενεγάλη χάνει τον εν διαστάσει σύζυγό της με τον οποίο ήταν παντρεμένη για τριάντα χρόνια. Αυτό της δίνει την αφορμή μέσα από μία σειρά γραμμάτων προς την αγαπημένη της φίλη να γράψει για τη ζωή και τις σκέψεις της. Μέσα από αυτά τα γράμματα περιγράφει τη ζωή της κάτω από το βάρος των παραδόσεων που θέλουν τις γυναίκες να έχουν δευτερεύοντα ρόλο και την προσπάθειά της να ξεφύγει από αυτό το στερεότυπο. Έτσι και εμείς παίρνουμε μία εικόνα για μία κοινωνία καταπιεστική, που κυριαρ..more
Feb 24, 2018Missy J rated it really liked it · review of another edition Shelves: 2018-books, africa-related, read-in-french, classics
I haven't read a book in French for many years now. This was a great re-introduction to the language. It's a short story by the Senegalese writer Mariama Bâ. In our current era of questionable feminism, I can honestly say that Bâ's book is a true work of feminism. It criticizes polygamy and patriarchy that is encouraged by the wider society.
'Une si longue lettre' ('So long a letter') is a series of letters that the narrator Ramatoulaye writes to her best friend Aissatou. They are both women in t..more
Jun 25, 2016Kirstine rated it really liked it'Une si longue lettre' ('So long a letter') is a series of letters that the narrator Ramatoulaye writes to her best friend Aissatou. They are both women in t..more
Shelves: 1-women, fiction, r-2016, translated, yorwoc-16, reviewed, sow-2016
I read this too fast and too unfocused. I felt sentences, words and their meaning slip through the cracks of my attention and get lost. But this is only 90 pages, and it deserves to be re-read someday when I'm older and can connect more fully to the narrative. Not just because it's a wonderful book, but because I'll understand it better - or at least differently - when I'm older, when I've (maybe) had kids, gotten married, lived a longer life. It may be that way for a lot of books, we always und..more
Mar 30, 2010Charlotte rated it really liked it · review of another edition
En résumé : un classique des études 'francophones' que j'aurais dû lire il y a 20 ans.. Agréable et sensible.
Pourquoi, pourquoi, pourquoi n'ai-je pas lu ce livre au collège à la place du Médecin malgré lui ou du Malade imaginaire ? Une si longue lettre est un court roman d'abord facile, avec des instants lyriques et parfois des accents 'typiques' (qui ne perturbent pas du tout la lecture de qui ne connaît ni ce pays ni sa littérature : je doute fort qu'ils seraient plus gênants pour un sauvageo..more
Jun 04, 2016Xandra rated it it was amazingPourquoi, pourquoi, pourquoi n'ai-je pas lu ce livre au collège à la place du Médecin malgré lui ou du Malade imaginaire ? Une si longue lettre est un court roman d'abord facile, avec des instants lyriques et parfois des accents 'typiques' (qui ne perturbent pas du tout la lecture de qui ne connaît ni ce pays ni sa littérature : je doute fort qu'ils seraient plus gênants pour un sauvageo..more
Shelves: 1001-books, 1950-1999, african, semi-autobiography, favourites, by-women
I'm overwhelmed by how brilliant this little book is. Crème de la crème of not only African and feminist literature, but literature in general.
Feb 21, 2017Adam Dalva rated it liked it · review of another edition
Extraordinary concept - Senegalese narrator writes a long letter to a childhood friend detailing how both suffered when their husbands (for very different reasons) took on second wives. When this is good, it's really good. The social insights into the complicated reactions women had in polygamous situations were revelatory, and the autobiographical elements were apparent and strong.
Alas, the epistolary structure, which I was excited for, let it down a bit. There was not much logic to the idea t..more
Alas, the epistolary structure, which I was excited for, let it down a bit. There was not much logic to the idea t..more
May 31, 2012Philip Lane rated it really liked it · review of another edition
An impressive book giving the feeling of a genuine viewpoint that is so seldom expressed. We hear the voice of a woman trapped inside the social confines of Islamic sub-saharan Africa. It is a mournful voice and although she has conformed most of her life she is fully aware of the alternatives that knowledge of the west brings with it. However she is torn between the merits of tradition that she can see as beneficial - abstention from harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol as well as cau..more
Sep 21, 2012Barbarac rated it it was amazing
I just finished this book and I'm still basking in its warmth. I haven't liked a book this much in a while and I'm feeling so much love for women all around the world right now. If a woman walked into my house right now I'd have to hug her. Despite how scary it would be to have a stranger just walking in.
So Long a Letter is a letter by a woman recently widowed to her best friend. The letter illustrates, among other things, polygamy, and how it affects women. It is such a raw and touching letter,..more
Jun 12, 2017Krista the Krazy Kataloguer rated it So Long a Letter is a letter by a woman recently widowed to her best friend. The letter illustrates, among other things, polygamy, and how it affects women. It is such a raw and touching letter,..more
So Long A Letter Summary
it was amazing Shelves: read-adult-fiction, read-iic, great-african-reads-by-women
I can see why this novel is considered a classic of African women's as well as Senegalese literature. Maraima Ba covers a range of topics in this epistolary novel. The story opens with the death of Ramatoulaye's husband, Modou Fall. From there she recounts in 'so long a letter' to her friend Aissatou her marriage, her husband's infidelity and the taking of a second, younger wife, Binetou, and its effect on her and her children. She reflects on Aissatou's similar circumstances (with a different o..more
i thought this book was great.
the good:
1) themes. i absolutely loved the themes of women's rights, education, and modernity. i thought ba dealt with those themes well, frequently posing insightful viewpoints.
2) characters. despite the book's short length, you really get a good feel of the characters (at least, the characters that actually matter). also, ba weaves many characters' plotlines together, and it's interesting to see how all the characters are connected, how they overlap and influence..more
Jan 27, 2010GoldenjoyBazyll rated it it was amazingthe good:
1) themes. i absolutely loved the themes of women's rights, education, and modernity. i thought ba dealt with those themes well, frequently posing insightful viewpoints.
2) characters. despite the book's short length, you really get a good feel of the characters (at least, the characters that actually matter). also, ba weaves many characters' plotlines together, and it's interesting to see how all the characters are connected, how they overlap and influence..more
Shelves: african-fiction
What a moving series of memories written as a letter from one Senegalese woman to another. Often as close friends lives do.. their lives seemed to mirror in so many ways. I think about my best friend and I as we both became teachers.. we both married.. we both divorced. Through happy and sad times we are always there for one another as these two women are- always loving- always right there even if our choices/ decisions are different.
The particular cultural forcus of this book presents a ve..more
Feb 14, 2018Calzean rated it really liked it · review of another editionThe particular cultural forcus of this book presents a ve..more
Shelves: author-senegal, culture-senegal, woman-author
I can see why this is an important book in African writing. The tale of the Muslim Senegalese school teacher Ramatoulaye and her marriage, 12 children, abandonment when her husband marries a school girl, and then his death. This is all carried out with the background of the independence of Senegal, her awakening of female rights and having to deal with the cost of modernisation.
The writing is in the form of a series of letters to a close friend who has also gone through her own dramas. The lang..more
Mar 13, 2018Aurélia rated it it was amazing · review of another editionThe writing is in the form of a series of letters to a close friend who has also gone through her own dramas. The lang..more
Shelves: autrices, lus-en-2018, littérature-jeunesse, feminism
Une lecture incroyable, portée par une écriture très belle, qui dénonce le sort des femmes au Sénégal : le rapport à l'autre, au mari, la polygamie, le dévouement, le veuvage.. C'était puissant, universel, révoltant.
J'ai un livre d'occasion : la personne qui avait lu ce livre auparavant avait souligné plusieurs passages. Je me suis sentie en communion d'esprit avec elle lorsque les mêmes passages me révoltaient, m’émouvaient, me marquaient.. et que je cornais ma page pour conserver cet instan..more
J'ai un livre d'occasion : la personne qui avait lu ce livre auparavant avait souligné plusieurs passages. Je me suis sentie en communion d'esprit avec elle lorsque les mêmes passages me révoltaient, m’émouvaient, me marquaient.. et que je cornais ma page pour conserver cet instan..more
Feb 19, 2012David rated it really liked it
A beautiful glimpse inside a woman's heart.
| topics | posts | views | last activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 Great Books B..:So Long a Letter - Mariama Bâ | 8 | 63 | Jan 03, 2019 10:10AM |
| Great African Reads:*Nov/Dec 2018 So long a letter by Mariama Bâ SPOILERS ALLOWED | 6 | 13 | Nov 15, 2018 06:58PM |
| Great African Reads:*Nov/Dec 2018 So long a letter by Mariama Bâ NO SPOILERS | 2 | 16 | Oct 02, 2018 05:27AM |
| Around the World ..:Discussion for So Long a Letter | 3 | 23 | Sep 06, 2018 03:23AM |
| A Review of Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter | 20 | 601 | Nov 11, 2017 12:59PM |
| Book Review | 1 | 2 | May 11, 2017 08:24PM |
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Mariama Bâ (1929 – 1981) was a Senegalese author and feminist, who wrote in French. Born in Dakar, she was raised a Muslim, but at an early age came to criticise what she perceived as inequalities between the sexes resulting from [African] traditions. Raised by her traditional grandparents, she had to struggle even to gain an education, because they did not believe that girls should be taught. Bâ..more
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“Friendship has splendors that love knows not. It grows stronger when crossed, whereas obstacles kill love. Friendship resists time, which wearies and severs couples. It has heights unknown to love.” — 59 likes
“And also, one is a mother in order to understand the inexplicable. One is a mother to lighten the darkness. One is a mother to shield when lightning streaks the night, when thunder shakes the earth, when mud bogs one down. One is a mother in order to love without beginning or end. ” — 37 likes
More quotes…“Great book to start the semester. Students easily grasped the cultural, religious, and gender issues in the novel.” — Tyrone Williams, Xavier University“I used this novel in my African literature course and it was great. The students researched Senegal and the discussions were lively, enthusiastic, and compelled the quiet students to join in. It was a rewarding experience.” — Immaculate Kizza, University of Tennessee
“This is a beautiful new edition of a timeless classic of African literature. Ba brings the issue of polygamy into sharp, almost familiar focus for readers who might think it bizarre and safely foreign. I am pleased to see this treasure back in print.” — Catherine E. Bolten, University of Notre Dame
“I was thrilled to learn that Ba’s novel is back in print and look forward to using it in my global literature class. The book offers cultural specificity and universal concerns in an engaging, accessible form. Thank you, Waveland Press!” — Martha Greene Eads, Eastern Mennonite University