Travel to Coastal West Africa

The Viceroy of Ouidah

Format: Paperback
Author: Bruce Chatwin
ReleaseDate: 07 June, 1988
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Rating:

As lush as Ondaatje
" This is the select company of books in which every sentence is to be savored, and each story seems plucked out of a parallel life far more exciting and troubled than ours. I can do this book no higher praise than name it in the company of two of my favorite books: Michael Ondaatje's "Running in the Family" and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera.

Chatwin is, like Ondaatje, a master of English prose, and a story-teller of immense subtlety and grace. "The Viceroy of Ouidah" packs into its slender frame what many an overstuffed epic can only aspire to.

Shining, but ultimately unsatisfactory
For me, this is Chatwin at his most show offy. I am not a great fan of this novel. This book followed hot on the heels of his thumpingly successful debut 'In Patagonia' and Chatwin was clearly garnering a reputation for describing far flung places in an original and inventive way. This he does in the Viceroy of Ouidah, a short biographical novel about the Brazillian Manoel de Silva who rose from poverty and obscurity to become the head of slave trading in Dahomey, now Benin in West Africa. A potentially brilliant framework for Chatwin's prose style to let rip you might think, but I think he goes overboard on the lush descriptions of the geography, climate and people of the regions he illuminates and loses sight of how to really engage the reader in the novel.

This novel was not all that well received when it first came out. His next work 'On the Black Hill' reveived the 1982 Whitbread Literary Award for Best First Novel, overlooking the fact that Chatwin had alreay published Viceroy previously and I think this is telling. I found the novel lacking in the gripping substance, intangible though that may be that really makes a great novel. Like one of the many works of art Chatwin catalogued when he was working at Sotheby's, it is a glistening gem, but beneath the surface, there is little that stirs the soul and lodges in the memory as passages of great fiction do.

Still worth reading though, as Chatwin at his worst is better than many writers at their best. .

Remote and Gritty Past Relived!
Was granted the title of Viceroy of Ouidah and a monopoly over the sale of slaves. In this text, "THE VICEROY OF OUIDAH," author Bruce Chatwin takes the reader on an engaging journey into the life of Francisco Manoel da Silva, a man who: Became the "best friend" of the King of Dahomey. Fathered "sixty-three mulatto sons and an unknown quantity of daughters. " And, whose now black descendants gather each year to "mourn the Slave Trade as a lost Golden Age. "

At 155 pages, the reader can easily devour this tantalizing read in one weekend! This is a great book of blended fiction and historical fact. I have been a closet fan of Chatwin for some time and I heartily recommend this book to anyone looking for a great book premised on a remote and gritty topic. You'll love it! Five stars. Bravo. .

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	In Patagonia (Penguin Classics)