“I’m a white guy and an African; the son of Europeans and Mozambicans;”
August 26, 2015 1:52 PM   Subscribe

Novelist Mia Couto discusses his hopes for conservation after the death of Cecil the lion, and his memories of Mozambique’s bloody civil war. [The Guardian]
In Confession of the Lioness, published last month in a translation by David Brookshaw, the hunter and the writer gradually swap roles. The novel was inspired by real events in northern Mozambique in 2008. Couto had sent 15 field officers to Cabo Delgado, near the Tanzanian border, to assess the impact of seismic prospecting for oil. When their visit coincided with a terrifying spate of lion attacks, he went to investigate. Over four months, “25 women were devoured by a group of lions. I faced not just lions but ancient fears and phantoms.” Some villagers believed the predators were “lions in the night and people in the day. They asked, ‘Why are you taking guns? These lions are not killed by bullets.’” In a spiralling mystery, the threat emerges as more social than supernatural. Couto says women were targeted because they work alone, and “lions choose the weakest”. Yet it became a metaphor. “It’s a very patriarchal society, with high levels of violence against women. Women are ‘eaten’ by their society and by life itself.”
posted by Fizz (2 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
I'm interested in buying his book. Any idea where I can buy "A Confissão da Leoa" online?
posted by pmv at 10:10 PM on August 26, 2015


pmv: it's listed on amazon. Also at fnac.pt.
posted by misteraitch at 1:56 AM on August 27, 2015


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