The Most Secret Memory of Men
A Novel
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3.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A Best Book of 2023 by the New York Times and The New Yorker and Longlisted for the National Book Award
A gripping literary mystery in the vein of Bolaño’s Savage Detectives, this coming-of-age novel unravels the fascinating life of a maligned Black author, based on Yambo Ouologuem.
The first Sub-Saharan African winner of France’s top literary prize, the Goncourt.
In 2018, Diégane Latyr Faye, a young Senegalese writer in Paris, discovers a legendary book from the 1930s, The Labyrinth of Inhumanity. No one knows what became of its author, once hailed as the “Black Rimbaud,” after the book caused a scandal. Enthralled by this mystery, Diégane decides to search for T.C. Elimane, going down a path that will force him to confront the great tragedies of history, from colonialism to the Holocaust.
Alongside his investigation, Diégane becomes part of a group of young African writers in Paris. Together they talk, drink, make love, philosophize about the role of exile in artistic creation. Diégane grows particularly close to two women: the seductive Siga, who holds so many secrets, and the photojournalist Aïda, impossible to pin down.
The Most Secret Memory of Men is an astonishing novel about the choice between living and writing, and the desire to transcend the divide between Africa and the West. Above all, it is an ode to literature and its timelessness.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Sarr (Brotherhood) explores African-European relations and literature's transformative power in this brilliantly executed mystery inspired by the real-life story of Malian author Yambo Ouologuem. Diégane Latyr Faye, a Senegalese writer navigating the Parisian literary scene in 2018, finds the sole extant copy of The Labyrinth of Inhumanity, a debut published to acclaim in 1938, but quickly withdrawn by the publisher after accusations of plagiarism against its Senegalese author, T.C. Elimane, who subsequently fell into obscurity. Faye's obsession with sharing the book with his circle of young African writers and his hope of discovering more works by Elimane leads to a rambling investigation to uncover what became of the author. Along the way, Faye comes into direct and indirect contact with Elimane's's family, lovers, detractors, and colleagues. Sarr's clever use of multiple formats—including letters, diaries, and book reviews—to parcel out bits of the self-exiled Elimane's biography ropes the reader into Faye's search, which feels equal parts focused and fortuitous. The author never sacrifices story for cleverness, though, delivering a rich narrative about art as a lasting marker of ephemeral individual existence. Literary mystery fans will be captivated.
