基本説明
A landmark bestseller in Italy, I Was an Elephant Salesman gives a name and a face to the thousands of anonymous African street vendors in cities across Europe.
Full Description
A landmark bestseller in Italy, I Was an Elephant Salesman gives a name and a face to the thousands of anonymous African street vendors in cities across Europe. Through the voice of a thinly veiled first-person narrator, Pap Khouma offers us a chilling, intimate, and often ironic glimpse into the life of an illegal immigrant. Khouma invents a life for himself as an itinerant trader of carved elephants, small ivories, and other "African" trinkets, struggling to maintain courage and dignity in the face of despair and humiliation. Constantly on the run from the authorities, he finds insight into the vicissitudes of law and politics, the constraints of citizenship, national borders, skin color, and the often paralyzing difficulties of obtaining basic human needs. His story reveals a contemporary Europe struggling to come to terms with its multiracial, multireligious, and multicultural identity.
Contents
Translator's PrefaceIntroduction by Graziella ParatiSellingIllegalAfricaThe Market in AbidjanDakarRiccioneStreet-Smart . . . Beach-SmartItalian MoneyPaolo il NeroGirls from SenegalPolice . . . Just Joking!Germany via ParisA Month in ParisThe Foreign LegionFrom Paris to RiccioneThe Car-HouseDouble MalawChief LamanA Senegalese LunchA Dresser in PiacenzaThe End of MaMilanese ChroniclesA Run on the BeachDakar via MoscowLife in SenegalA Tourist in RomeTo Catch a ThiefLacosteFights in the MetroChangesPolitical AccusationsChildren
