So Long a Letter
SynopsisPlot
The brief narrative, written as an extended letter, is a sequence of reminiscences—some wistful, some bitter—recounted by recently widowed Senegalese schoolteacher Ramatoulaye Fall. Addressed to a lifelong friend, Aissatou, it is a record of Ramatoulaye's emotional struggle for survival after her husband betrayed their marriage by taking a second wife. This semi-autobiographical account is a perceptive testimony to the plight of educated and articulate Muslim women. Angered by the traditions that allow polygyny, they inhabit a social milieu dominated by attitudes and values that deny them status equal to men. Ramatoulaye hopes for a world where the best of old customs and new freedom can be combined.
Story
About this book
So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba takes the form of an extended letter written by Ramatoulaye Fall, a Senegalese schoolteacher, to her closest friend Aissatou. Recently widowed, Ramatoulaye looks back over the years of her marriage and its turning point: her husband's decision to take a second wife. The letter moves between tender and painful memories as she tries to make sense of what that change meant for her life.
Drawing on semi-autobiographical material, the book portrays the position of educated Muslim women in Senegal. Ramatoulaye is articulate and professionally independent, yet she lives within social structures where polygyny, marriage to more than one wife, is accepted and where women's standing remains unequal to men's. The strain between personal conviction and communal expectation runs through the narrative. She does not reject tradition outright, hoping instead that older customs and newer freedoms might hold together.
Written in French and later translated into English, the book appears on the list titled Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century. At short length it holds a wide span of feeling and social observation within a compact form shaped by a single voice.
