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Biography & Autobiography Women

Congo Solo

Misadventures Two Degrees North

by (author) Emily Hahn

edited by Cuthbertson

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Jul 2011
Category
Women
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773539044
    Publish Date
    Jul 2011
    List Price
    $28.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773586321
    Publish Date
    Jul 2011
    List Price
    $19.95

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Description

A woman who lived life on her own terms, Hahn was an unknown and struggling writer when Congo Solo was published. Here - restored to the form she had intended - is Hahn's unforgettable narrative, a vivid, provocative, and at times disturbing first-hand account of the racism, brutality, sexism, and exploitation that were everyday life realities under Belgium's iron-fisted colonial rule.

Until now, the few copies of Congo Solo in circulation were the adulterated version, which the author altered after pressure from her publisher and threats of litigation from the main character's family. This edition makes available a lost treasure of women's travel writing that shocks and impresses, while shedding valuable light on the gender and race politics of the period.

About the authors

Editorial Reviews

"There is a long chain of accounts by literary travellers to the Congo over more than a century, and it is good to have one such revealing narrative carefully restored to an uncensored version at last. The chilling episode at its heart reminds one of the cruel megalomania of Joseph Conrad's Mr. Kurtz." Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold's Ghost
"This fascinating, contemporaneous account will appeal to intrepid travelers." Library Journal