I Was an Elephant Salesman: Adventures between Dakar, Paris, and Milan

by Pap Khouma, Rebecca Hopkins (Translator), Graziella Parati (Foreword by)

Overview

A landmark bestseller in Italy, I Was an Elephant Salesman gives a name
and a face to the thousands of anonymous African street vendors in cities across
Europe. Through the voice of a thinly veiled first-person narrator, Pap Khouma
offers us a chilling, intimate, and often ironic glimpse into the life of an illegal
immigrant. Khouma invents a life for himself as an itinerant trader of carved
elephants, small ivories, and other "African" trinkets, struggling to
maintain courage and dignity in the face of despair and humiliation. Constantly on
the run from the authorities, he finds insight into the vicissitudes of law and
politics, the constraints of citizenship, national borders, skin color, and the
often paralyzing difficulties of obtaining basic human needs. His story reveals a
contemporary Europe struggling to come to terms with its multiracial,
multireligious, and multicultural identity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780253004604
Publisher:	Indiana University Press
Publication date:	08/29/2010
Series:	Global African Voices Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	158
File size:	352 KB

About the Author

Pap Khouma is author of Nonno Dio e gli spiriti danzanti [Grandfather god
and the dancing spirits] and founding editor of El Ghibli, an online journal of
migrant literature.

Rebecca Hopkins teaches English and writing at
the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna,
Italy.

Graziella Parati is Professor of Italian at Dartmouth
College. She is author of Migration Italy.

Table of Contents

Translator's PrefaceIntroduction by Graziella
Parati

SellingIllegalAfricaThe Market in
AbidjanDakarRiccioneStreet-Smart... Beach-SmartItalian MoneyPaolo il NeroGirls from
SenegalPolice... Just Joking!Germany via ParisA Month in ParisThe Foreign LegionFrom
Paris to RiccioneThe Car-HouseDouble MalawChief LamanA Senegalese LunchA Dresser in
PiacenzaThe End of MaMilanese ChroniclesA Run on the BeachDakar via MoscowLife in
SenegalA Tourist in RomeTo Catch a ThiefLacosteFights in the MetroChangesPolitical
AccusationsChildren

What People are Saying About This

University of South Carolina - Jeanne Garane

Rais[es] questions about youth culture, identity, and migrancy.

University of California, Los Angeles - Alessandra Di Maio

One of the first and most influential autobiographical [immigrant] narratives published in Europe.

Editorial Reviews

This autobiographical novel is a treasure, a narrative of courage, optimism, and resilience. . . . Khouma gives his audience much food for thought. January/February 2011

ForeWord Reviews

[T]he sly humor of its first-person narrator...gives this cultural critique the fast-paced charm of a road novel. March-April 2011

World Literature in Review

"One of the first and most influential autobiographical [immigrant] narratives published in Europe." —Alessandra Di Maio, University of California, Los Angeles

"[T]he sly humor of its first-person narrator...gives this cultural critique the fast-paced charm of a road novel." —World Literature in Review, March-April 2011

From the Publisher

"Rais[es] questions about youth culture, identity, and migrancy." —Jeanne Garane, University of South Carolina

Jeanne Garane

"One of the first and most influential autobiographical [immigrant] narratives published in Europe." —Alessandra Di Maio, University of California, Los Angeles

Alessandra Di Maio