The Rape of Lysistrata

This tragedy revolves around the love between a black Brazilian writer (Camilo) and a white American student (Mimi). Somewhere in between is Beth, Mimi’s friend, who apparently does not like the relationship and in a bid to influence Mimi plants an angry article very hostile to whites and contemptuous of black/white sexual relationships, for Mimi to read. The article was actually written by Obi, Camilo’s closest friend and the narrator, but Beth apparently hoped Mimi would assume it had been written by Camilo and take offense, as she had been doing some typing work for Camilo. This of course happens and the article nearly drives Mimi mad after she reads it.

She and Camilo were to be married in about nine days, but reading the article made her think that Camilo didn’t really love her, that deep down he was angry at her whiteness as manifested in the article. She decides to test him and asks him for sex the first time ever, endures the ordeal in revulsion, then goes straight to the police to report a rape. Camilo is arrested and due to a guilty conscience for his wife that died in prison from having stolen to keep them from starving to death in London years before, he pleads guilty, is jailed for life, and apparently commits suicide in jail. The story didn’t actually unfold openly like this. The arrest of Camilo was a great mystery to Obi and it took him to the end of the book to find out what actually happened.

June 7, 2015. Review initially written in 1992. Novel first published in 1980. Picture source: goodreads.com.

Elina

Like the author’s previous books I’ve read, this is a social conflict story. Unlike those, this is not a story based on the black man’s anger. It’s more a story of a cunning plot to fight—during colonial times—what was seen as a legislation designed to stamp out one aspect of black African culture in favor of the practice in Europe and America, i. e. polygamy. It was actually previously titled Winds Versus Polygamy.

Elina, the beautiful but poor peasant girl, is at the core of the plot. After her father’s death a hunter comes to claim her in marriage in return for a debt. Her uncle wants a rich politician to marry her instead. The case is brought to the village chief. The next morning the chief is troubled by the new legislation outlawing polygamy, and decides to fight it in court, knowing that his own trial would cause a sensation. But how does he get to the court?

After the two men have brought their claims on Elina, he decides to use Elina to get to the court, by saying he would marry her in addition to 31 other wives. Elina agrees to go along with his plan and when he is to give judgment on the men’s case, he puts it to Elina to say who she’d marry. Elina says she’d marry him. The two men threaten to report him to the police, which is what he wants. He gets arrested, gets a lot of publicity and gets the crucial trial, the outcome being that he is fined 500 pounds for “committing” the crime. The anti-polygamy legislation however gets to be suspended. As for Elina, she falls for the chief’s son and they plan to get married.

May 7, 2015. Review initially written in 1992. Novel first published in 1974. Picture source: Yahoo (Images).