Madame Livingstone: Congo, the First World War by Christophe Cassiau-Haurie, illustrated by Barly Baruti was definitely not what I was expecting when I discovered this fictional account of the First World War in Africa. The reason? It’s a comic book or graphic novel as they call them these days.
In its favour, is the fact that it’s one of the only fictional accounts I’ve come across so far covering the Belgian aspect of the war in Africa – there is a Young Indiana Jones film with accompanying script and one could say that Peter Hoeg’s “Journey into a dark heart” in Tales of the Night is fitting. The story was originally written in French and translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger, the English version being published in 2021.
The year is 1915 and claims it is based on a true story by about the relationship between a Belgian officer and an African scout who worked to sink the Götzen on Lake Tanganyika. The author and illustrator explain more in an interview they gave. What I did find interesting in the interview was the little comment that comics have been around on the African continent since 1915. If that’s the case, I wonder what other little WW1 gems are hidden in the graphic story telling art form?
The book forms the basis of a discussion on Memory in Crisis … in Postcolonial Belgium by Sarah Arens, 2020. I’ll leave you to read that and decide for yourself about the value of telling the story visually rather than in words. Although I will say that I was rather impressed/intrigued as to how the story did unfold with the few words used – I jumped a number of the visuals as I really couldn’t see how they added to the account (but then that is more about me and my preference for narrative). You might also be interested in this review on the Historical Novels Society website – which is, incidentally, where I discovered the book, having been directed to the society by Tova Dian Dean (watch this space).
While the book contains additional information on the events mentioned and context of the Congo during the war, sadly no references are included. The frustration around this is that little is known in English about the Belgian or Congolese involvement in the conflict. British sources tend to leave out reference to Belgian involvement, it’s only in recent years that we’re getting to hear more about the South African, Rhodesian (Zimbabwean & Zambian), Malawian and Kenyan involvement, amongst others, in the war. Similarly, the Belgian accounts that I have accessed tend to still focus on the grand narrative, so as usual it’s only the Belgian officers and politicians who tend to get named. While the names of the Belgian and Force Publique who lost their lives during the war is available online, finding the names of those who served in the Belgian force in Africa is a real challenge from afar… (and to be honest, it is the same regarding the Portuguese participants).
That was now a digression, all inspired by this graphic novel. In conclusion, despite my personal take on graphic novels, this is a book worth getting if you’re interested in obscure (ie little known) aspects of the First World War in Africa. It’s one of the reasons I value fictional accounts of the campaign – they often lead to new insights.
And it makes sense to add some information about the creators as part of the Novelist series (see Tags)
Barly Baruti (Baruti Kandolo Lilela):
1950 – 9 December, born Congo Kinshasa as Livingsone Alexis
1992 – moved to Belgium
2021 – back in Kinshasa
Christophe Cassiau-Haurie
1968 – born Doualla, Cameroon, raised in France
References: https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/baruti_barly.htm
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