{"product_id":"the-neverending-quest-for-the-other-shore-an-epic-in-three-cantos-9780819580740","title":"The Neverending Quest for the Other Shore: An Epic in Three Cantos","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn Kandé's epic poem, African history collides with the contemporary reality of migration\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSylvie Kandé's neo-epic in three cantos is a double narrative combining today's tales of African migration to Europe on the one hand, with the legend of Abubakar II on the other: Abubakar, emperor of 14th-Century Mali, sailed West toward the new world, never to return. Kandé's language deftly weaves a dialogue between these two narratives and between the epic traditions of the globe. Dazzling in its scope, the poem swings between epic stylization, griot storytelling, and colloquial banter, capturing an astonishing range of human experience. Kandé makes of the migrant a new hero, a future hero whose destiny has not yet taken shape, whose stories are still waiting to be told in their fullness and grandeur: the neverending quest has only just begun. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCountry folk who made themselves belated mariners\u003cbr\u003etheir bodies cadence them\u003cbr\u003eto cleave with the oar's tainted tip\u003cbr\u003ethe purple mounds of the great salt savannah\u003cbr\u003ewhich no furrow marks\u003cbr\u003ewhere no seed takes root \u003cbr\u003e(But to say the sea\u003cbr\u003eearthly words are little suited)\u003cbr\u003eAt the point of the dream\u003cbr\u003ethey were a myriad\u003cbr\u003eno less and no more\u003cbr\u003eto cross the coral barrier in laughter with its vermilion flowers: \u003cbr\u003ethere remain but three barks adrift\u003cbr\u003efull so full to the point of capsizing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sylvie Kand?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wesleyan University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/22\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSeries:\u003c\/b\u003e Wesleyan Poetry\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 176\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.65lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.80h x 5.90w x 0.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780819580740","brand":"Wesleyan University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42983887437961,"sku":"9780819580740","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_d21a8885-5c48-4927-a9e1-4a4cc96b0840.jpg?v=1726556419","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/the-neverending-quest-for-the-other-shore-an-epic-in-three-cantos-9780819580740","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}