I Was an Elephant Salesman by Pap Khouma, Rebecca Hopkins, Graziella Parati

Abstract

Pap Khouma. IWas an Elephant Salesman . Rebecca Hopkins, tr. Graziella Parati, intro. Bloomington. Indiana University Press.2010. xv + 138 pages. $18.95. ISBN 978-0-253-22232-9 Like many diasporic texts,Pap Khouma's semiautobiographical novel, I Was an ElephantSalesman ,translatedfromthe Italian he acquiredas an "elephant salesman ,"exploresissues confronting migrants from thecolonialmargin to theWestern center. Butthesly humorof its first-person narrator, Khouma's persona, "Paschal," gives thiscultural critique thefast-paced charmof a road novel.Following hisfrenzied movements from Dakar to Italy, France, Germany, backto Dakar,and backagainto Italy, we experience notonlythegrim reality ofmigration buttheintense vitality ofyouth. Binaries - white /black, Africa/ Europe - frame the text. Doubly conscious ,culturally hybrid, "Paschal" reflects onthose likehimfrom countries that have"bredmentogo out intheworldandsell,andsentthem outamongthewhites, thetubab of Europe." Recalling Senegalese farmers 'whipshehassoldasAfrican relics ,heimagines thefarmers "lost. . . forgotten" andponders "things that don'tinterest thewhites." Toescape Dakar's soul-grinding poverty, he dreams ofFrance, "thecountry I've alwayswanted tosee. . .myculture isalsoFrench," butquickly notes, "I hateFrance becauseitcolonized and exploited us." To survivein Europe,theformerpotter "Paschal"mustembrace the "art" of "sellingelephants," thoseivorytrinkets thatembody Africato orientalizing Europeans. MeetingyoungSenegaleseeverywhere ,salesmen like him, drug dealers taking greaterrisks for greater rewards, andgirlswhocan sellonlythemselves, he concludes, "MyAfrica is for sale."WhenParis proves inhospitable(though its police are "nice"),"Paschal" and his compatriots become nomads, usingtrains, cars,and, especially, their belovedredPeugeottolocate viablemarkets. Stoppedatborders, repeatedlyforcedback to whereverinEuropethey lastcamefrom, they seekalternate routes. Rejected by Germany, theyenterItalyand move fromtown to town. Peddlinghiswarestotourists onsummerbeacheswhiledodgingpolice , "Paschal"becomes"beach-smart." Even when falland wintermean riskyindoorvenues and weather that precludesliving in cars or unheated country houses,theSenegaleseremain resilient. Theimmigrants 'relationto the "Uncles" (police)mimicsthecolonialstatus quo. To avoid arrestand protect theirillegal goods, theyendure a life of hide-and-seek. Performing subservience, Paschalendures repeated humiliation.But once Italyrevisesa law thatgives the growing numberofillegalsquasilegal status,"Paschal," deported to Dakar via Moscow (a hilarious episode in whichhe receivesan impromptu early-morning bustour of the city),returns to Italyand founds a Senegalese association thatembodiesa new, if limited, visibility andsolidarity. Finally,/Wasan Elephant Salesmanis a postcolonial picaresque, "Paschal"a trickster figure whose keen wit and essential honesty underscore thelopsided powerrelations between Europeans andimmigrants , particularly darker-skinned nonWesterners. But its last words sounda hopeful note,deconstructingitsinitial binaries: "Manystay. Theywork. . . even if theyare exploited morethanothers. Many stayandmeetItalian girls. Theyfall inlove.There areweddings andthen separations and divorces, and still more marriages. Babiesareborn." Michele Levy North Carolina A&T University 641WorldLiterature Today ...