 The God Who Begat a Jackal
By Nega Mezlekia
Picador, 2001
Nega Mezlekia grew up in waning days of Emperor Hailie Selassie's reign over Ethiopia. He was a fervant supporter of the communist uprising that ended Selassie's rule and brought down Ethopia's centuries-old feudal system in 1974. But Mezlekia quickly became disillusioned as he saw family and friends die under the new totalitarianism. He escaped to Canada in 1985, and he has lived there ever since.
He has now written two books about the strife in his homeland. Notes from the Belly of the Hyena, a memoir, won the prestigious Governor's Award in Canada. His new book is the novel The God who Begat a Jackal, which he says is part fable, part history.
(From the publisher) Last year in the New York Times Book Review, Nega Mezlekia's memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly was described as "the most riveting book about Ethiopia since Ryszard Kapuscinski's literary allegory The Emperor and the most distinguished African literary memoir since Soyinka's Aké appeared 20 years ago." Now, from the author of the hugely acclaimed memoir, comes a first novel steeped in African folklore and teeming with the class, ethnic and religious struggles of pre-colonial Africa.
In The God Who Begat a Jackal, the 17th-century feudal system, vassal uprisings, religious mythology, and the Crusades are beautifully intertwined with the intense love between Aster, the daughter of a feudal lord, and Gudu, the court jester and family slave. Aster and Gudu's relationship is the ultimate taboo, but supernatural elements galore presage a destiny more powerful than the rule of man.
With Mezlekia's enchanting storytelling and ironic humor, readers glimpse African deities that have long since weathered away and the social cleavages that have endured through time. This is a captivating work from a major new international novelist.
About the author
Nega Mezlekia is the author of Notes from the Hyena's Belly, a New York Times Editor's Choice and winner of the Governor General's Award. He left Ethiopia in 1983 and is now an engineer living in Toronto.
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