Title : The Viceroy of Ouidah - Bruce Chatwin - book
Summary : This is yet another fabulous story that Bruce Chatwin pulls from his backpack. That of a white Brazilian slave trader, Francisco Manoel da Silva, a character inspired by the very true Francisco Félix de Souza who arrived on the shores of Dahomey, this "black Sparta", at the beginning of the 19th century. An unrepentant traveler, Bruce Chatwin investigated in Dahomey (present-day Benin), then in Brazil, to tell an odyssey that will see Francisco ally himself with the king of Dahomey, before being thrown in prison. Saved by Kankpé, the king's half-brother, Francisco thanks the latter by installing him on the throne. The new king then grants him a monopoly on the slave trade. Having become viceroy of Ouidah, the opulent Francisco, a surprising hybrid of satrap and idealistic gentleman, transforms Dahomey into a "military machine". Abandoning the slave trade, he attempts to develop trade with Europe. Paradoxically, he also encouraged the creation of a sort of "little Brazil" in Dahomey, made up of former slaves who had bought their freedom to return to the land of their ancestors... A formidable back and forth of history. A century after Francisco's death, his distant grandchildren were still flocking to Benin. Longing for the golden age of the slave trade, they sought their ancestor's fortune. Going beyond the picaresque, Chatwin delivers a beautiful novel about the rise and fall of an elusive adventurer, a novel that is also a treatise on exile. The Viceroy of Ouidah was adapted for the cinema by Werner Herzog, under the title Cobra Verde, starring Klaus Kinski.
EAN : 9782246244639
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