Mayombe     by Pepetela Published by Heinemann Pub. Date: May 1996 ISBN: 0435905953 List Price: $10.95, £5.99 Buy online from Amazon.co.uk for £5.99

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Mayombe is the forest home of a group of MPLA (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) guerrillas fighting the Portuguese in the early 1970s for Angolan independence. The Portuguese are the least of the guerrillas’ problems however: tribalism, political differences and a beautiful woman over the border in the Congo all create divisions between the men.


The incident of a theft after a mission to mobilize the Fiote people of Cabinda reveals the depth of tribal suspicions (see quotation below). In fact hindsight colours the story with tragedy: it is a prescient foreshadowing of the terrible consequences of tribal divisions suffered by post-independence Angola.


If one thing alone placed this novel in its era it would be its optimistic discussion of the construction of a new society. In their camp the guerrillas earnestly debate Marxist theory. Back at headquarters Ondine and her sexual relationships with Fearless, Andre, and the Commissar symbolize the freedom that is to come to the new generation of Angolans.


Striding through the novel is the charismatic figure of Commander Fearless. He is the epitome of the tragic hero: a leader of men, lover of women, a loner, a man who will never fit into the society he is sacrificing himself to create. Fearless is an intellectual, but anti-dogmatic, a man who only finds himself in action.


Pepetela, the pen-name of Artur Carlos Maurício Pestana dos Santos, was born in Angola in 1941. In 1969 he joined the MPLA and served in the Cabinda region of Angola. Mayombe was written around 1971-72 although it wasn’t published in Portuguese until 1980, five years after Angola achieved independence.

‘See how the Commander was so concerned about the hundred escudos of that Cabinda traitor? Didn’t you ask why, didn’t you wonder? Well I’ll explain. The Commander is Kikongo: although he went to Luanda as an infant, the truth is that his family comes from Uije. Now, Fiote and Kikongo are relatives, and basically the same people. That is why he was so angry at a theft from one of his cousins. That is why he protects Struggle, another traitor. Did you see his rage when he grabbed Ungrateful? Why? Ungrateful is Kimbundu, there you have the whole story.’ pp28-29