Nuruddin Farah, Close Sesame

F. Fiona Moolla (University of the Western Cape)

Ed. by Helen Rachel Cousins, Birmingham Newman University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 8.2.3: Anglophone African Writing and Culture: Subsaharan.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester), Alex Nelungo Wanjala (University of Nairobi)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1983

Places

Somalia (Country of Origin)
United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

The Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship trilogy is concluded with the novel

Close Sesame

, which, despite its title, is one of Farah’s most inconclusive and indeterminate novels. The trilogy represents the most extensive African literary meditation on authoritarianism and resisting tyranny. However, at its close, the power of the Dictator (based on the historical Muhammed Siad Barre, a Somali General who came into power by military coup) remains unassailable. Furthermore, the shadowy resistance movement, alluded to in the first two novels, appears to be entirely liquidated. Contrasted with the absolute power and control of the Dictator, however, is the vertiginous doubt of the narrative itself where “the ambiguous and paradoxical, the unexplained and indeterminate,…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1164 words

Citation: Moolla, F. Fiona. "Close Sesame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 March 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=30487, accessed 23 April 2024.]

Save this article