1. Camara Laye

2. Guinea
•divided into 8 administrative regions
•subdivided into 34 prefectures
among which the national
capital Conakry ranks as a special zone.

3. •country in West Africa. Formerly known
as French Guinea (French: Guinée française),
it is today sometimes called Guinea-
Conakry
`

4. it curves from its western border on the Atlantic Ocean toward the east and the south, it shares
its northern
border with Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, and its southern border with Sierra
Leone, Liberia, and Côte d'Ivoire.
The sources of the Niger River, Gambia River, and Senegal River are all found in the Guinea
Highlands

5. GUINEA
Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between
Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone

6. Kouroussa (var. Kurussa)
The town in Guinea

7. Kouroussa (var. Kurussa)
The town in Guinea
• A town located in northwestern Guinea, and is the
capital of Kouroussa Prefecture.
• In 2008 it had an estimated population 10,165.
• Kouroussa has long relied upon its position near the
upstream limit of navigation of the Niger River.
• The town and surrounding area is a center of Malinke
culture, and is known for its Djembe drumming
tradition.

8. • Kouroussa's position as a river port has made it historic
center for regional trade.
• Kouroussa was a major trade stop between the Niger
River valley and the coast.

9. The French, added the region to the colony of French
Upper Guinea, later a part of French West Africa
• During the colonial period the town was made a main
trans-shipment point for commodities coming
from French Soudan (today's Mali).
• The French encouraged the collection gold sifted from
streams and dug by local small scale mines.
• The French also attempted to promote local farming
of groundnuts and cotton.

10. • The majority of the surrounding population comes from
the Malinke and Djallonke ethnic groups,
• Kouroussa and the surrounding region is the centre of the
Hamana-Malinke Mande sub-group -- "Hamana" being the
name for the region
• Kouroussa and surrounding towns maintain the pre-colonial
Mande ceremonial kingship of Hamana

13. Contemporary History
• In 2001, Kouroussa was one of several places which
was particularly hard hit by flooding, and became a
center for thousands of internally displaced people from
the surrounding area.
• In 2005, Kouroussa was rocked by major protests
against the government

14. Traditional Music
• Hamana-Malinke are especially known for their unique
musical traditions, especially their drumming traditions
• Djembé groups in Kouroussa are known for the
inclusion of the bass dununba drum and the
long kenken bell.

17. Camara Laye (1928-1980)
• Camara Laye was a Guinean writer.
• He was born in Kouroussa in Upper Guinea on January
1, 1928.
• His novel "L'Enfant noir" established him as one of the
most important novelists from French-speaking Africa.
• According to Adele King in The Writings of Camara
Laye, he was, "passionately concerned with preserving
a record of traditional homeland."
• He let his narrative and his gently observed characters
speak of the warmth, wholeness, and deep piety and of
the growing sadness of his people and the stimulus of
French rule and influence.

19. • First studying in Koranic and French-run schools, Laye
went on to study technical subjects at the École Poiret
in Conakry.
• In 1947 he won a scholarship to France, where he
studied motor engineering
• He decided to remain in Paris after his scholarship had
finished and continue his technical education

20. • Laye then attended school at the Conservatoire des
Arts et Métiers and the École Technique d'Aeonautique
et de Construction Automobile.
• He supported himself as a porter in Les Halles and at
the Simca automobile plant.

21. • Laye believed that the sacrifices he made by leaving his
home, warranted more, "It was not, in my opinion,
worth the trouble to leave Africa only to become a
mechanic. It was too simple a job."
• Feeling lonely, Laye began writing down warm
memories of his childhood in Guinea, which became the
roots of his first novel.

22. • L'Enfant noir (1953; Dark Child) is primarily a
recounting of Laye's own voyage from childhood
• The book wins its audience through its tender but
unsentimental treatment of the older African life and
the dignity and beauty of that nostalgically lamented
past.
• Laye expresses his deep anxiety at leaving his
homeland, writing, "It was a terrible parting! I do not
like to think of it. I can still hear my mother wailing. It
was as if I was being torn apart."

23. • However, this separation enhanced his appreciation for
his home and his culture.
• He brought Marie Lorifo, whom he had known from
Conakry, to Paris and married her.
• L'Enfant noir received critical acclaim and won the Prix
Charles Veillon in February of 1954.

24. • Laye's second novel, Le Regard du roi (1954; The
Radiance of the King)
• Clarence enters the whirlpool of sloth, of lust,
of despair, until one day the King arrives and accepts in
his open arms the bedraggled but earnest man
• Widely considered Laye's masterpiece, Le Regard du
roi firmly established Laye's reputation as a quality
writer.

25. • Laye continued to write, completing plays for radio and
collecting some oral literature of the Manding.
• His popularity in West Africa grew.
• He received critical praise in the first issue of Black
Orpheus in 1957 and was included in Gerald
Moore's Seven African Writers (1962).

26. • Laye and his wife returned to Guinea in 1956.
• He worked in several positions in West Africa, including
teaching French in Accra, Ghana.
• After Guinea attained its independence, Laye became
Guinea's ambassador to Ghana
• He also spent a short time as a diplomat in Liberia.
• He returned to Guinea and held a series of prominent
positions including director of the Department of
Economic Agreements and associate director of the
National Institute of Research and Documentation.

27. • Life for Laye and his family in Senegal was not easy. He
worked as a research fellow at the Institut Fondamental
d'Afrique Noire (IFAN)
• In 1970, Laye's wife was arrested at the airport in
Guinea after receiving a letter from her sick father
urging her to visit.
• Laye was left to raise their seven children.
• In 1971 Laye completed a novel
entitled L'Exile, but deferred its publication because of
its political sensitivity

28. • During his wife's imprisonment, Laye married a second
wife - and had another two children.
• After his first wife was released in 1977, she returned
to Dakar, but was unable to accept Laye's additional
wife.

29. • In 1975 Laye became acutely ill with a kidney condition
• Reine Carducci, an admirer of Laye's work, became
conscious of Laye's plight.
• Félix Houphouët-Boigny, president of the Ivory Coast,
Laye later wrote his biography and expressed his
admiration for the leader.
• Laye received the necessary medical care in Paris.
• Camara Laye died in 1980 in Dakar of a kidney
infection.

30. • Camara Laye's authorship of Le Regard du roi was
questioned by literary scholar Adele King in her
book Rereading Camara Laye.
• Scholar F. Abiola Irele, in an article called In Search of
Camara Laye asserts that the claims are not
"sufficiently grounded" to adequately justify that Laye
did not author the mentioned work.

33. Clarence

34. Clarence , the white
man destitute in a
black kingdom, has
given his jacket to the
keeper of the sordid
hostelry in exchange
for his board and
lodging, and now
leaves, accompanied
by a beggar.
As they left the lodging-
house, Clarence was
surprised to find the
city in a state of
feverish activity. A little
while before as they
came down from the
parade ground.

35. As they prepared
to break through
the crowd they
found themselves
surrounded by a
detachment of
the royal guards.
Then the negro
lodging house
keeper slip
through, grabbing
Clarence by the
scuff of his neck
he insisted to
have the stolen
jacket back.

37. Clarence insisted
that he already
gave his jacket and
he didn’t have it
anymore but the
guard and the
house keeper didn’t
believe.
And so the guard
seized Clarence and
the beggar’s hand.
They were brought
to the judge.

40. Clarence
I’m not guilty.
This man, who is a
beggar, has not left
me all evening. He will
tell you that I gave my
jacket to the landlord
Judge
Everybody who comes
here says that.
Oh no, your method is
of no use. This man
(the beggar) is the
witness for the
prosecution.

41. Landlord
If the white man
agrees to give
me his shirt and
trousers, I’ll let
him off with the
jacket.
Judge
That is a very
fair proposal.

42. Just then the beggar whispered in
Clarence ear “Run! Don’t wait! Run! Meet
me at the gate of the city. Run, I tell you,
they’ll have your underpants as well.”

43. Clarence was resigned to the loss of his trousers,
and the shirt but not his underpants so he bolted
like a hare, and found himself in the corridor .

44. Clarence in the meantime, had opened at
random one of the hundred doors which gave
on to the corridor. And now he was fleeing
through a maze of deserted rooms and empty
passages.

45. • After opening so many doors, he ended up
opening on to that same court room from
which he had fled so many hours.
• He saw that the room was deserted except
for the judge who was asleep and snoring.
• Slowly he tiptoed.

46. Judge
Clarence