Congo Solo: Misadventures Two Degrees North

by Emily Hahn, Ken Cuthbertson (Editor)

Overview

A woman who lived life on her own terms, Hahn was an unknown and struggling writer when Congo Solo was published. Here - restored to the form she had intended - is Hahn's unforgettable narrative, a vivid, provocative, and at times disturbing first-hand account of the racism, brutality, sexism, and exploitation that were everyday life realities under Belgium's iron-fisted colonial rule. Until now, the few copies of Congo Solo in circulation were the adulterated version, which the author altered after pressure from her publisher and threats of litigation from the main character's family. This edition makes available a lost treasure of women's travel writing that shocks and impresses, while shedding valuable light on the gender and race politics of the period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773586321
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	07/17/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Ken Cuthbertson is the author of two critically acclaimed books of non-fiction, including Nobody Said Not to Go: The Life, Loves, and Adventures of Emily Hahn and Inside: The Biography of John Gunther, shortlisted for a Governor General's Literary Award. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Table of Contents

Foreword Anneke Van Woudenberg vii

Introduction xiii

Congo SOlo

1 Voyage Out 3

2 To the Middle of the Map 19

3 Penge 33

4 Home and Hospital 51

5 Matope 62

6 Death and the Census 83

7 Malaria 99

8 Angelique 105

9 Monkeys and Men 122

10 No Bananas 128

11 The Villain in Avakubi 147

12 Elephants 160

13 Administration and Amputation 172

14 Kayumba's 181

15 Come to Judgment 199

16 White Hot Mad 210

17 Where My Caravan 231

Afterword 257

Glossary 259

Appendix 1 Grace Flandreau's impression of Patrick Putnam (1928) 261

Appendix 2 Fictionalised Account of Putnam's Rage from the 1933 Edition of Congo Solo 263

Selected Bibliography 271

Editorial Reviews

"There is a long chain of accounts by literary travellers to the Congo over more than a century, and it is good to have one such revealing narrative carefully restored to an uncensored version at last. The chilling episode at its heart reminds one of the cruel megalomania of Joseph Conrad's Mr. Kurtz." Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost


"This fascinating, contemporaneous account will appeal to intrepid travelers." Library Journal

From the Publisher