Perpétue et l’habitude du malheur (1974)

Perpétue et l’habitude du malheur is a political crime novel whose heroine, Perpétue, dies while awaiting hospital care — the story that would inspire Mongo Beti’s own final years.

This novel, published in the collection Les Enfants du peuple directed by Beti and his wife Odile Tobner, explores the mechanisms of a postcolonial Africa where corruption and indifference kill the most vulnerable.

Sources

1. « Mongo Beti », Encyclopédie Universalis, https://www.universalis.fr/encyclopedie/mongo-beti/
2. African Studies Centre Leiden, « Mongo Beti dossier », https://www.ascleiden.nl/content/webdossiers/mongo-beti
3. Leslibraires.fr, https://www.leslibraires.fr/livre/899207-perpetue-et-l-habitude-du-malheur-roman-mongo-beti-buchet-chastel