NOTES

The epigraph by Marguerite Duras is from Practicalities, translated by Barbara Bray, Harper Collins, 1990 (from La Vie Matérielle, Éditions P.O.L., 1987).

The lyrics by Josephine Baker are translated by Penny Hueston.

The proverb on p. 193, ‘Only people without a vision resort to reality’ is cited by the South African photo-grapher Santu Mofokeng in his book Chasseur d’Ombre, Prestel, 2011.

The quotations from Aimé Césaire are from the translation of Aimé Césaire’s Notebook of a Return to My Native Land (Cahier d’un Retour au Pays Natal), translated by Clayton Eshelman and Annette Smith, Wesleyan University Press, 2001.

Marie Darrieussecq received a Stendhal Travel Grant from the Institut Français for the writing of this novel.

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1‘Locked in such a bold embrace, how could I keep my wits about me?’ From a popular French song, ‘Mon Amant de Saint-Jean’, written by Léon Agel in 1942, interpreted by many singers, including Edith Piaf and Patrick Bruel.

2 A Cameroonian dish of stewed nuts, ndoleh leaves and fish or beef.

3 Central African word for a white person, ‘one who has come out of the belly of a fish’.

4 Camfranglais: Off we go. Let’s hit the road.

5 Camfranglais: forbidden