"Symbolic of the nostalgia for a life I didn’t know."

August 3, 2020 6:53 AM

Scholastique Mukasonga (The New Yorker, 11/12/2018), "Cattle Praise Song": "'Karekezi,' my father said, 'look after Intamati.' I went to her immediately: she was one of those cows we call isine, with a shiny black hide. My father had likely assigned her to me because she was a heifer known for her strength, who might one day lead the herd." Mukasonga explains her story in "On Tutsi Life and the Rwandan Genocide." More recently, she explains her story "Grief" in "On Writing and Mourning from Exile." Excerpts from Cockroaches, The Barefoot Woman, and Our Lady of the Nile are available online.
posted by Wobbuffet (2 comments total)

Thanks for posting that, I've come across Cockroaches once or twice but never picked it up. Might do so now.
posted by Fence at 9:05 AM on August 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

I just finished the Cattle Praise Song. Oh my. I have tears in my eyes.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:09 PM on August 4, 2020 [1 favorite]