by Walter Abish
First published 2018
Alva finds herself abducted by Angolans in a continent that exists only through the constraints of language. As Walter Abish constructs his fictional Africa, he follows strict alphabetical rules, beginning with words that start only with A, then expanding to include B words, and so on through the alphabet before reversing the process. The landscape shifts as letters accumulate and disappear. Driver ants launch massive attacks across the terrain. Zanzibar's forces invade the territory. Queen Quat of Tanzania, a transvestite ruler, orders the entire continent painted orange. Meanwhile, two jewel thieves hunt their nymphomaniac accomplice across this unstable geography. The story expands as Abish adds each new letter, reaching maximum complexity at Z, then contracts as he systematically removes letters until only A words remain. The continent itself becomes a character, forming and crumbling according to linguistic rules rather than physical laws.
Genres: literary-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century, africa, alternate-history
Vibes: atmospheric, surreal, thought-provoking
Tropes: experimental-structure, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Africa, Zanzibar, Tanzania
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
176 pages · Paperback · New Directions Publishing Corporation