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Fiston Mwanza Mujila was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1981 and lives in Austria. His debut novel Tram 83 won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and Germany’s International Literature Award, and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize and the Prix littéraire du Monde. More about this author >
Roland Glasser grew up in London, studied French and Theatre Studies at Aberystwyth University and Film and Dramatic Arts at the University of Caen Normandie, before spending a decade living in Paris, where he developed a successful career in translation, literary editing, and theater lighting design. More about this author >
Filed in the following archives
Translated from the French
From the publisher:
Zaire. Late 90’s. Mobutu’s 30-year reign is tottering. In Lubumbashi, the stubbornly homeless Sanza has fallen in with a trio of veteran street kids led by the devious Ngungi. A chance encounter with the mysterious Monsieur Guillaume seems to offer a way out…Meanwhile in Angola, Molakisi has joined thousands of fellow Zairians hoping to make their fortunes hunting diamonds, while Austrian Franz finds himself roped into writing the memoirs of the charismatic Tshiamuena, the “Madonna of the Cafunfo Mines.” Things are drawing to a head, but at the Mambo de la Fête, they still dance the Villain’s Dance from dusk till dawn.
Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s The Villain’s Dance is a vivid, expansive dual narrative set against the backdrop of Mobutu’s rule in 1990’s Zaire—known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo—and the civil war in Angola. A gorgeous feat of magical realism, intricately infused with stylized prose reminiscent of jazz, this is a tale of darkness, of class and struggle, of light. Roland Glasser’s translation brings Mujila’s words and dynamic cast of characters to life with a flourish.
