The Shadow of Things to Come
SynopsisPlot
In an unnamed African nation, the people are subject to a state of perpetual warfare and to an Orwellian abuse of language that strips from language its meaning and renders life senseless. And in a bare room lit only by moonlight, a young man hides, waiting for the mysterious crocodile-men to come and help him escape from the violent tyranny of the state. While he waits, he tells his story.
Story
About this book
In an unnamed African country locked in endless war, a young man hides in a bare room lit only by moonlight. He is waiting for figures known as the crocodile-men, who may be able to help him escape the violent control of the state. While he waits, he tells his story, piecing together a life shaped by conflict and fear.
The novel's setting is defined not only by physical danger but by a deliberate corruption of language. The ruling power strips words of their meaning, turning communication into a tool of confusion and control. Kossi Efoui, a Togolese playwright and novelist, builds a world where both violence and distorted speech work together to make ordinary life feel senseless. The atmosphere shifts between the bleak and the surreal, with carnivalesque and dreamlike elements running through the narrative.
Efoui's prose sits at the border between political fiction and allegory. The unnamed country, the perpetual war, and the manipulation of language all point toward recognizable patterns of authoritarian rule without being fixed to a single historical case. The story unfolds from the young man's hiding place, where memory and waiting fill the hours before an uncertain escape.
