On the Brink of Death
On the Brink of Death, Khalil Diallo’s first novel, tells the story of Ismaïla, a young Senegalese whose life tragically turns upside down when the beloved one perishes in a terrorist attack. Consumed by despair and guided by a “orgy of grief,” Ismaïla turns toward the dark side of the human condition. This novel, dedicated to all the innocents fallen under the yoke of totalitarianisms, pays homage to Yambo Ouologuem. “People become bad because they no longer have anything left to love to madness,” Diallo summarizes — and that may be the key to his work.
Editions
| Year | Publisher | ISBN | Language |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | L’Harmattan Sénégal (coll. Nouvelles lettres sénégalaises) | 9782343157870 | French |
| 2021 | Éditions Emmanuelle Collas | — | French (reissue) |
| 2023 | Unionsverlag (Zurich) | — | German (Am Rande des Todes) |
Distinctions
Finalist of the Orange Prize for Literature in Africa 2019, the Ahmadou Kourouma Prize 2019, and the Prix Ivoire 2019.
Detailed Description
Passion that justifies ignoble acts that nothing can explain. “Love, his own, had now led him into this square populated by a Cairo market. He had been lost by love, and now this feeling had led him to the point where he felt ready, capable of destroying the whole earth and everything it bore in its name.”
This novel, through its array of images and intersexualities, presents itself as a hymn of hope. It uses religious obscurantism, death, immigration, love, and poetry to stage not only a story but also — and above all — the human condition.
Sources and references
- “2021: my discovery of the novelist, Khalil Diallo,” Africultures, https://africultures.com/2021-ma-decouverte-du-romancier-khalil-diallo/, accessed October 18, 2025.
- Khalil Diallo, Agence Ægitna (author biography), https://www.agenceaegitna.com/khalil-diallo/, accessed October 18, 2025.
- “Khalil Diallo: Ahmed Baba Prize,” Jeune Afrique, https://www.jeuneafrique.com/1270098/culture/mohamed-mbougar-sarr-abdulrazak-gurnah-boubacar-boris-diop-ces-africains-qui-ont-fait-lannee-litteraire/, accessed October 18, 2025.
- “DIALLO Khalil,” Etonnants Voyageurs, https://etonnants-voyageurs.com/DIALLO-Khalil.html, accessed October 18, 2025.
- “The Odyssey of the Forgotten,” Éditions Emmanuelle Collas, https://www.emmanuelle-collas-editions.com/?Diallo=, accessed October 18, 2025.
- Open Library: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL44009710M/À_l’orée_du_trépas