Description
'You may never have been, may never go, may never even have heard of the place - but Malawi will repay your attention. It is one of the smallest, poorest countries in Africa, often overlooked; but its relationship with us in the West has been extraordinary.'
In a ruined dictator's palace, Alexander Chula - a classicist-turned-doctor, fresh out of Oxford - stumbles upon an oak treasure chest. Inside is a priceless, antique edition of Julius Caesar's Gallic War. This unexpected talisman of Western high culture belongs to the mercurial Dr Banda, a man of many parts: scholarly physician, anti-colonial hero, brutal tyrant, and fallen philosopher-king.
Banda leads the author deep into the heart of this mysterious country, there to uncover a bizarre meeting of worlds: between one of Africa's most fascinating indigenous cultures and the best and worst of our own. Here tribal ritual collides with Greek theatre; masked dancers with roving classicists; poets and pop stars with missionary-explorers; hippies and kleptocrats with long-suffering peasants.
The story is enigmatic but exhilarating, by turns edifying and deeply uncomfortable. But we would do well to examine it: Malawi presents urgent lessons which resonate piercingly in our vexed age of culture wars and identity crisis.
Author: Alexander Chula
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 07/04/2023
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.60w x 1.30d
ISBN13: 9781846976278
ISBN10: 1846976278
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs
- Biography & Autobiography | Medical (Incl. Patients)
- Biography & Autobiography | Science & Technology
In a ruined dictator's palace, Alexander Chula - a classicist-turned-doctor, fresh out of Oxford - stumbles upon an oak treasure chest. Inside is a priceless, antique edition of Julius Caesar's Gallic War. This unexpected talisman of Western high culture belongs to the mercurial Dr Banda, a man of many parts: scholarly physician, anti-colonial hero, brutal tyrant, and fallen philosopher-king.
Banda leads the author deep into the heart of this mysterious country, there to uncover a bizarre meeting of worlds: between one of Africa's most fascinating indigenous cultures and the best and worst of our own. Here tribal ritual collides with Greek theatre; masked dancers with roving classicists; poets and pop stars with missionary-explorers; hippies and kleptocrats with long-suffering peasants.
The story is enigmatic but exhilarating, by turns edifying and deeply uncomfortable. But we would do well to examine it: Malawi presents urgent lessons which resonate piercingly in our vexed age of culture wars and identity crisis.
Author: Alexander Chula
Publisher: Birlinn
Published: 07/04/2023
Pages: 320
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 8.50h x 5.60w x 1.30d
ISBN13: 9781846976278
ISBN10: 1846976278
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Personal Memoirs
- Biography & Autobiography | Medical (Incl. Patients)
- Biography & Autobiography | Science & Technology