“The spirit of Africa always appears in the guise of an elephant. Because no other animal can vanquish an elephant. Not a lion, not a buffalo, not a snake.”

This book was excellent. The author chronicled his years as a journalist in Africa with deep understanding, historical relevance, and an immersive commitment to learning. This was the first book that I have read chronicling the history of Africa that provided both context and sociology within personal anecdotes, making the wealth of information exciting and accessible. As the devastation of the slave trade flowed into the oppression of colonialism then progressed into an age of dictatorships and palpable poverty, the author repeatedly linked his eclectic experiences to the harsh climate and always ultimately to the resilience of the people. I highly recommend this book for so many reasons.

La obra más famosa de su autor, donde expuso la riquísima y variada sociedad que componen los pueblos de África, mostrando sus virtudes y miserias con una pasión intachable. Es un libro denso, bien escrito y con cierta tendencia al sensacionalismo fruto de la propia profesión de Kapuscinski. Es irregular, con pasajes magníficos como los dos últimos y otros que se olvidan enseguida.

Se lee lentamente debido a la gran cantidad de elementos que contiene, es algo reiterativo, cosa común en libros de viajes pero en esencia es moderadamente interesante, no desvela nada realmente importante que no intuyéramos de este descomunal continente, pero al mismo tiempo sirve para poner las bases necesarias para que dejemos de ver a África como un territorio compacto sin apenas diferencias cuando es justamente lo contrario: El lugar de nuestro planeta más variado, rico en culturas e idiomas y en general, el más mágico de todos los continentes de la Tierra.

He confronted a cobra face to face. He suffered through cerebral malaria, the most deadly form of the disease. He trekked across the featureless wastes of the Sahara for days on end, courting death from thirst, and stumbled through endless stretches of dense rainforest and trackless savannah. And, as his bio says, “During his four decades of reporting on Asia, Latin America, and Africa, he witnessed twenty-seven coups and revolutions and was sentenced to death four times.”

This remarkable man was Ryszard Kapuscinski, who began his career as a foreign correspondent in 1957, when Poland’s state newspaper dispatched him to Africa to observe the unwinding of the colonial era. For a reader steeped in the anti-Communist propaganda of the times, I had expected his writing — for Communist publications during more than three-quarters of his career — to be riddled with Marxist-Leninist jargon, but there’s none of that in The Shadow of the Sun, one of Kapuscinski’s six books. This compilation of articles and essays he wrote about his experience in Africa is nothing less than a revelation — written with the grace and power of a novelist at the peak of his talent, infused with empathy and insight about the people he encountered, and nowhere, but nowhere, politically biased beyond what any intelligent contemporary Western observer of colonialism might be.

Here is Kapuscinski describing the African concept of time: “you go to a village where a meeting is scheduled for the afternoon but find no one at the appointed spot, asking ‘When will the meeting take place?’ . . . You know the answer: ‘It will take place when people come.”

Here he reflects on the permeability of African nations’ borders: “The population of Africa was a gigantic, matted, crisscrossing web, spanning the entire continent and in constant motion, endlessly undulating, bunching up in one place and spreading out in another, a rich fabric, a colorful arras . . . [M]any African societies (some claim all of them) today occupy terrain that they did not previously inhabit. All are arrivals from elsewhere, all are immigrants.”

Here Kapuscinski finds the roots of the kleptocracies that rule so many nations today: “The colonial origins of the African state — a state wherein the [British or French or Portuguese] civil servant received remuneration beyond all measure and reason — ensured that in independent Africa, the struggle for power instantly assumed an extremely fierce and ruthless character.” As the saying goes in East Africa, adopted as a title by the British journalist Michaela Strange for her book about corruption in Kenya, “It’s our turn to eat.”

Kapuscinski ascribes much of Africa’s instability to the European conference convened in Berlin by the Prussian statesman Bismarck: “European colonialists . . . crammed the approximately ten thousand kingdoms, federations, and stateless but independent tribal associations that existed on this continent in the middle of the nineteenth century within the borders of barely forty colonies.”

The Shadow of the Sun is a treasure-chest of incisive reporting about Africa’s recent past, featuring vivid and disturbing accounts of the antecedents of Liberia’s ghastly civil wars, the origins of the Rwandan genocide, and the roots of recurring famine in the nations of the Horn.

I detected only one glaring error in The Shadow of the Sun. As a Pole, growing up in an overwhelmingly Catholic country, Kapuscinski might be forgiven for referring to a Protestant minister as a priest and to the service he conducted as a mass. Or perhaps the fault lies with his translator, Klara Glowczewska. Despite this flaw, and other errors of fact or interpretation that I might not have caught, The Shadow of the Sun is a extraordinary piece of work, as readable and relevant today as it was when first published a decade and a half ago.

Non è il mio genere di libro, ero scettica, ma poi sono stata catturata. Una Africa sviscerata in tutti i suoi aspetti, politici, genetici, le tradizioni, l'ambiente. Si trattano di diversi capitoli scritti in più tempi e che coprono una fetta di storia delle nazioni che si sono incamminate verso l'indipendenza, non nascondendo contraddizioni. Carestie, malattie, carneficine....e accanto a queste i colori ed i profumi di questo continente. Da leggere

Một cuốn sách tuyệt vời về linh hồn của châu Phi, một linh hồn xuất hiện dưới lốt voi - con vật vĩ đại với ánh mắt lạnh và sắc cùng một nỗi buồn sâu thẳm mà không loài vật nào có thể chiến thắng được nó.

Sách hay - ấn tượng ngay từ cái tên sách được dịch giả dịch lại “Gỗ mun”. Cuốn sách như một bộ phim sống động quay lại cuộc sống - thể hiện văn hoá, chính trị, địa lí ở châu Phi. Vài điều đọng lại:
- Khái niệm thời gian: ngược lại với người châu Âu khi họ là nô lệ của thời gian, tuân thủ nó một cách nghiêm ngặt, ngưởi châu Phi lại là ông chủ của nó - 1 sự việc chỉ được xảy ra, mang ý nghĩa, khi nó được xuất hiện trên dòng chảy thời gian mà điểm bắt đầu - kéo dài bao lâu đều do người châu Phi tự quyết định hết.
- Văn hoá di chuyển và tính tạm thời: cả châu Phi là một dòng chảy không ngừng, người người di chuyển từ làng mạc lên thành phố kiếm người cùng bộ lạc, kiếm chút đồ ăn thức uống “không phải các thành phố cần họ mà cái nghèo đã đuổi họ đi”. Chiến tranh, thiên tai khắc nghiệt là 2 yếu tố góp phần xây dựng nên văn hoá ấy - khiến cho nội địa châu Phi không có các thành phố cổ như châu Âu. Vì thế đặc điểm nổi bật của nền văn minh này là tính tạm thời, thiếu sự liên tục của vật chất, mọi thứ trong cuộc sống của họ đều tạm thời, tan chảy và mong manh.
- Tôn sùng sắc tộc: chắc không có 1 châu lục nào, mọi sắc tộc đều có thể trở thành tôn giáo, với những tín ngưỡng tuyệt đối như vậy. Với họ, có 3 the gioi cùng tồn tại: con người - vật dụng vật chất, thế giới tâm hồn của chúng ta và cuối cùng, thế giới của những người chết.
- Sự khốc liệt của đối nghịch nghèo - giàu
- Những ngừoi lính trẻ em
...

The way Ruszard Kapuscinski writes transports you to another place with a stunning vividness. Reading this book felt both like coming home and traveling to new adventures and I loved it.

“The population of Africa was a gigantic, matted, crisscrossing web, spanning the entire continent and in constant motion, endlessly undulating, bunching up in one place and spreading out in another, a rich fabric, a colourful arras.” - Ryszard Kapuscinski, The Shadow of the Sun

A man I’d unfortunately never heard of wrote one of the most engaging historical reflections I've’ve ever read. Ryszard Kapuscinski reported on African events for a Polish newspaper for over 40 years. He was definitely in Africa at the right times; during the fights for independence, military coups and so on. Kapuscinski placed events like the Rwandan genocide (and the lesser-known Burundian genocide that happened alongside it) in their cultural and historical contexts.

There were many surprises along the way, the biggest shocker for me being the fact that the descendants of former slaves , the Americo-Liberians, just about re-enacted what they had been through in America when they settled in Liberia among the indigenous Africans. It’s definitely a reminder of how history is often repeated.

Why I think this stands out as a historical account is not only because of the proximity of the writer to the actual events, but also his observations. I am always surprised when a non-African writer tries to understand the culture, in a non-judgemental or critical way, as pessimistic as that may sound. Kapuscinski was definitely an observer and tried to understand things that were “foreign” to him, things such as the African concept of time , which I found very interesting and enlightening.

“The European and the African have an entirely different concept of time. In the European worldview, time exists outside man, exists objectively, and has measurable and linear characteristics. Africans apprehend time differently. For them, it is a much looser concept, more open, elastic, subjective. It is man who influences time, its shape, course and rhythm.”
— Ryszard Kapuscinski, The Shadow of the Sun

The author showed the complexity of the African society, the fact that it’s not homogeneous in the least.

A very easy, entertaining read with passages of the most beautiful and poetic language. A great introduction to African history which encouraged me to learn more about the events in depth.

Bellissimo viaggio letterario

mi è piaciuto particolarmente perché a differenza, per esempio, dei libri di Kuki Gallmann, non si tratta di una biografia/romanzo.
Invece, è più un reportage e tratta quei lati politici e storici dell'Africa di cui troppo poco si parla, e troppo poco vengono studiati.

REALLY Great.

The master paints a wide picture of Africa during his time there from the 60's until the 90s. He touches on so much from Wars to Ancient Kingdoms to the changes and Everlasting mores of the various peoples across the continent.

My Favourite pieces was probably his
- 'A Lecture on Rwanda' that explained the buildup to the Rwandan Genocide informatively yet succinctly ---- I hadn't realized that differences between the Tutsis and Hutus were mainly class rather than Ethnic.
- 'The Black Crystals of the Night' - Where he explains the supernatural beliefs of many Africans and the distinctions between 'witchcraft' 'witches' and 'sorcerers' and the especially peculiar beliefs of the 'Ambra' people (who he stayed with and watched a particular strange scene there one night) of Western Uganada, who believe (unlike most other African people) that Witches are not 'the other' performing spells from a distance but our within their community, this has led apparently to the disintigration of their community as neighbour and brother are pitted against each other.


But really so many other wonderful stories from wrestling a Cobra to driving the frighful hairpin turns of the Eriterean Highlands passing Coptic priests and the mouldering remains of Soviet tanks.

I'm only dissappointed that he didn't have more stories about the ravages of AIDS across the continent and more stories from the Congo, especially since it was published in Polish in 1998 and the First Congo War was around 96-97.

ಸೂರ್ಯನ ನೆರಳು - ಮೂಲ - ರೈಷಾರ್ಡ್ ಕಪುಶಿನ್‌ಸ್ಕಿ ,ಅನುವಾದ - ಸಹನಾ ಹೆಗಡೆ.

ಆಫ್ರಿಕಾದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಿಗೆ ಎಷ್ಟು ಪರಿಚಯವಿದೆ? ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯದ ಕುರಿತಾದ ವಾಚಿಕೆ ಬಂದಿದೆ, ತೇಜಸ್ವಿಯವರ ಅಲೆಮಾರಿಯ ಅಂಡಮಾನ್‌ನ ಜೊತೆಗೇ ಮಹಾನದಿ ನೈಲ್ ಎಂಬ ಬಾಲಂಗೋಚಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ವಿವರಗಳಿವೆ ,ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ ಕೆಲ ಕಥೆ,ಕಾದಂಬರಿಗಳು ಅನುವಾದವಾಗಿವೆ. ಈದಿ ಅಮಿನ್‌ನಂತಹವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಿ ಗೊತ್ತಿದೆ.
ಹಾಗಾದರೆ ನಿಜವಾದ ಆಫ್ರಿಕಾದ ಚಿತ್ರಣ ಹೇಗಿದೆ?
ತಿಳಿಯಲು ಇದನ್ನು ಓದಬೇಕು.

ಇದು ರಸವತ್ತಾದ ಘಟನೆಗಳ ಪುಸ್ತಕ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಇದು ಅಲ್ಲಿನ ದೇಶಗಳ ದಾರುಣ ಚಿತ್ರಣವೂ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಇದು ಅಲ್ಲಿಯ ವಾಸ್ತವದ ಚಿತ್ರಣ. ಅದರಲ್ಲಿ ಸಹಜವಾಗೇ ಮೂಗಿನ ಮೇಲೆ ಬೆರಳಿಡುವಂತಹ ವಿವರಗಳಿವೆ. ಆಡಳಿತದ ಅವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ, ಜನರ ಜೀವನ, ನಂಬಿಕೆಗಳ ದೊಡ್ಡ ಜಗತ್ತು, ಕಾಲಕ್ಕೆ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇಲ್ಲದ ಮಹತ್ವ, ಜನರ ಸ್ನೇಹಪರತೆ, ವಿಶ್ವಾಸದ ವರ್ತನೆ, ವಿಷಪೂರಿತ ಹಾವು ಹಲ್ಲಿಗಳ ಜೊತೆಗಿನ ಒಡನಾಟ, ಮಲೇರಿಯಾ ಏನುಂಟು ಏನಿಲ್ಲ ಇಲ್ಲಿ?

ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಕೊನೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬರುವ ಆಫ್ರಿಕಾ ಅಂದರೆ ಆನೆಯೇ ಎಂಬುದು ಎಷ್ಟು ಅರ್ಥವತ್ತಾದುದು ಅಂತ ನಿಮಗೆ ಓದಿದಾಗ ಅರಿವಿಗೆ ಬರುತ್ತದೆ.

ಸಹನಾ ಹೆಗಡೆಯವರ ಫಾಲೋವಿಂಗ್ ಫಿಶ್ ಅನುವಾದ ಓದಿ ಇಷ್ಟಪಟ್ಟು ಇದನ್ನು ಓದ ಹೊರಟದ್ದು. ಮೂಲದ ಭಾವವನ್ನು ದಾಟಿಸುವಲ್ಲಿ ಅವರ ಅನುವಾದ ಅತ್ಯಂತ ಪರಿಣಾಮಕಾರಿಯಾಗಿದೆ. ಲೇಖಕ ಏನು ಹೇಳ ಹೊರಟಿದ್ದಾನೋ ಅದು ನಮ್ಮ ತಲುಪುತ್ತದೆ. ಅದೇ ಪುಸ್ತಕದ ಯಶಸ್ಸು.

I have just added a new favorite author, Ryszard Kapuscinski. His work is completely amazing.

Kapuscinski was a Polish journalist who arrived in Ghana in 1957 as the first African correspondent of Poland's state newspaper. The career which would follow constituted of almost 50 years of covering the Dark Continent. Kapuscinski is a not just a journalist, an explorer or cultural scientist. He is an artist of words. His reporting is the height of what the writer and journalist can hope to achieve with his craft. Taking us back to the days when you there was not internet to google information from in an instant, Kapuscinski sets us down inside a bustling market in Mali, drops us on the blazing sand at noontime in Sudan and has us witness a gruesome coup de tat in Liberia, all with rich description and explanation that leaves us feeling as if we were along on his journeys.

This book is a collection of stories written over the entire span of his work in Africa. It shows a deep appreciation for the way of life only Africans can adhere to and also a high level of respect for it. Most of all, Kapuscinski sets the bar of correspondent journalism at its highest level, a leve so high that journalists who follow will never reach it, but will become all the better themselves just for trying.

I will continue to read his work, voraciously.