The latest addition to my website is Cheikh Hamidou Kane‘s L’aventure ambigue (Ambiguous Adventure). This is a semi-autobiographical novel about Samba Diallo, son of a Senegalese chief. He is a committed Muslim (like nearly all Senegalese) and clearly believes the Senegalese should follow the Muslim way. However, he is sent to France and very much struggles with the issue of how an African can retain his essential values and fit in to the modern world. He spends much time contemplating and discussing this and does not really come to a conclusion. This book is not a particularly easy read, as it is deadly serious throughout and the characters tend to speak as philosophers and theologians, using aphorisms and learned arguments, rather than as ordinary people.