Two books that put you in Benin. One, Snares Without End, is by a writer from Benin and set there. The other is a wider pick, by someone who knows the place well.
Very little writing from Benin has been translated into English, and Olympe Bhêly-Quenum's Snares Without End is a rare example. Translated from French, it is the tragedy of a young farmer whose life unravels in colonial-era Dahomey. Dahomey was the country's name until 1975, and its kingdom, with its court at Abomey, drew many foreign visitors and historians. Much of what is available in English instead comes from them.
Richard Burton's A Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome is his firsthand account of the 1860s court at Abomey, covering rituals, the army and royal customs. Bruce Chatwin's novel The Viceroy of Ouidah traces a Brazilian slave trader's rise and decline at Ouidah across the nineteenth century. Stanley B. Alpern's Amazons of Black Sparta is a history of the female regiments of Dahomey, from their origins to their fall to French conquest.
The tragedy of a young Dahomean farmer whose life unravels, set in colonial-era Benin, where village customs, family pressure and colonial justice collide.
By long-time residents and outsiders who know the place well, or folk tales, poetry and history with a strong feel for Benin.
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A novel tracing a Brazilian slave trader's rise and decline at Ouidah and the Dahomey court across the nineteenth century.
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