One of the characters, Tink, brought to Africa from Macao as a slave working on the railways, uses his talent for engineering and mechanics to develop prosthetic limbs for the afflicted. Terrible injuries are inflicted by the Belgian military on the native population, including the maiming and amputation of limbs, particularly hands. In the book, as part of the process of founding Everfair, hospitals are set up to receive those wounded by King Leopold’s forces in his attempt to maintain control of the country. I guess my question, then, is: while this may not be good news for us, will the world as a whole be better off or worse off without us? What do I now see differently? There was a time when Britain was a substantial player on the world stage – but did that help or harm other nations? We’re now at a point where we seem to be retreating into the isolation of our small island. As has often happened during the course of the Book Diaries, I’ve found myself faced with almost as many questions as answers.
So what am I saying? What did I ‘find out’ by reading this book? I’m not entirely sure. I lived for a year in France, and have travelled widely to places including the west coast of America and the plains of Mongolia. I am half Welsh, half English: I was born and brought up in England, but have lived in Wales for the past 20 years.
The United Kingdom joined the European Union in January 1973, when I was still a toddler and my husband hadn’t even been born yet.
I grew up at a time when the Empire had essentially dissolved and been replaced by the Commonwealth. It felt very odd to be reading this narrative of British global sovereignty at a time when we are right in the middle of negotiations to leave the European Union. The novel is set in the period 1889-1919, when the British Empire was still a force to be reckoned with, and other white nations (such as Belgium and Portugal) also felt entitled to colonise large tracts of less ‘developed’ continents such as Africa. Support local bookshops (UK): buy the book from Hive.Find the book in a library near you (worldwide).The book follows the story of white settlers, returning freed slaves and the indigenous people of the region, and their struggles to make their land, ‘Everfair’, a Utopia where they can truly feel at home. Shawl envisages what might have happened if the native population of the Congo, at the time of Belgium’s colonisation of it, had had access to advanced technologies. (See my general blog to find out why I’m doing this.) Country/culture: Africa (Belgian Congo) Noteįor this year’s Book Diaries, in a departure from my usual focus, instead of being inspired in a random fashion, I’m looking for inspiration that I can take to my writing.
0 kommentar(er)
