Naipaul é escritor trinitario e britânico , de origem indiana. Nesta obra viaja por 6 países africanos, ou melhor mergulha na cultura tradicional, sobretudo a de natureza mágica e religiosa do povo africano. Com início no Uganda, no centro do continente, a viagem de Naipaul passa pelo Ghana, pela Nigéria, Costa do Marfim e acaba onde acaba o continente - na África do Sul. O que gostei neste livro, para além da descrição dos povos e culturas, foi o olhar ao mesmo tempo critico e amoroso com que o autor vê esta cultura através de conversas com pessoas muito diferentes, quer do povo simples das aldeias, passando por feiticeiros, curandeiros, intelectuais e politicos. Uma leitura muito interessante ( )

More than a travel narrative, Naipaul examines religion and mythology in six African countries and compares present practices with those of his last visit in the sixties, and in the time before colonization. His writing is down-earth with short, sometimes acerbic sentences, that might be considered blunt if they were not tinged with humour or describing risible situations, which happen surprisingly often. But Naipaul has a way with words: even a brief description of a dog in the street conjures up a vivid image of the event. Impressively parsimonious, he negotiates keenly with guides, witch doctors, drivers and so on, often backing out of a trip that he thinks might cost more than he has been quoted. Writers who know Africa have strong opinions of this work that has been described as "cliched" and even "toxic". While much of the information is unverified or of mythical origin, it was provided by those who might just be enjoying themselves by recounting an amusing or shocking anecdote. But then, a renowned sceptic himself, Naipaul may have been just along for the yarns too. Recommended for the armchair traveller.

A favourite quotation: "Directly, with no beating about the bush, he {the soothsayer} asked our business. I didn't know what to say. I couldn't say I had come only to have a look." ( )

Naipaul's latest tome which is chiefly about traditional beliefs and practices in some of the African countries like Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon and South Africa. He has stayed true to his rather acerbic style and wit. Colonialism and it's remnants of civil life have done little to alleviate the lot of the average African. Their legacies have been rapidly taken over by the tropical jungle and the people have fallen back on their traditional ways of Shamanic beliefs, witchcraft, polygamy, internecine tribal warfare and the ill effects of modern global trade like rampant logging and poaching. All together a very grim and unredeemable scenario.

Naipaul's latest tome which is chiefly about traditional beliefs and practices in some of the African countries like Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon and South Africa. He has stayed true to his rather acerbic style and wit. Colonialism and it's remnants of civil life have done little to alleviate the lot of the average African. Their legacies have been rapidly taken over by the tropical jungle and the people have fallen back on their traditional ways of Shamanic beliefs, witchcraft, polygamy, internecine tribal warfare and the ill effects of modern global trade like rampant logging and poaching. All together a very grim and unredeemable scenario.

This book, and its reviews on goodreads, taught me a couple of things. Most importantly, I realized how important a book's title can be. I picked this up at the Museum of African Art in D.C., where it was on super-sale. There were a number of fetish objects in the museum, which were much more powerful than most of the modern art around them. The curator's notes suggested that much of this was a response to the slave-trade (especially from Benin), which would have been so catastrophic for the people there. That piqued my interest--in the U.S., you hear a lot about the effect of slavery on slaves (justifiaby), but not much about the effect on the places from which those slaves were, for want of a better word, kidnapped. So I was to learn more about traditional African religion. Unfortunately, the books at the Museum's store were all about how great it was/is to be African. They mostly featured very colorful dresses.

So Naipaul was the closest I got to what I was looking for. And here is the importance of titles: this is not a book about African religion. Many reviewers seem almost aggressively angry about that fact, pointing out that Naipaul did no scholarly research, just relates anecdotes, talks about his own feelings etc etc... Well, all that's true. But this book is obviously travel literature. You don't browse J-Stor when you're on holiday.

The second thing I learned follows directly from this: I have no criteria with which to judge travel literature. What am I looking for here? There's little intellectual content, but V.S. does a reasonably good job highlighting the emotional and political importance of traditional religion, as well as how the 'major world religions' get swallowed up by it. The style is readable but hardly admirable. It's repetitious. There's an awful lot in here about how bad Naipaul feels when animals die, but not much about how he feels when people are forced into poverty and suffering. He seems like a bit of a prick, although sometimes conscious of that prickiness.

I learned very little about African religion. But I did learn that I need to read more, better travel literature. My wife recommends Fermor. I'm open to other suggestions. And I also learned that I should read more Naipaul, because if this--a pleasant way to kill an afternoon--is as bad as he gets (which I suspect it might be), the good might be very, very good. ( )