On the banks of the periphery? The Guinean short story

Abstract

This essay tries to answer the question why the considerable production of short narratives (contos) both in Creole and in Portuguese of Guinea-Bissau goes almost completely unnoticed, in spite of the (mostly) high literary quality of these texts. Obviously, this has something to do with the marginality of the country not only  regarding its relation to the former colonial power Portugal and the lusophone world, but also concerning its standing among other African cultures. Political instability (which has historical roots), a very complex linguistic situation, as well as the dire necessity to organize daily survival are some of the reasons that restrain an adequate reception of these books in Guinea-Bissau, whereas precarious publishing-conditions and restricted possibilities of distribution limit a wider circulation of these works at an international level. Nevertheless, the literary genre conto in Africa is a multifaceted concept which covers a whole spectrum of short narratives, ranging from the millennial oral stories to the contemporary literary stories, including a variety of ‘hybrid’ forms that blend together the manifold functions of the traditional narrative with the exigencies of postmodern writing. The overview of the nineteen collections of short narratives from Guinea-Bissau, which concludes these considerations, reflects and proves the rich, variegated  and versatile nature of the Guinean conto which encompasses (anonymous) stories in Creole, passes through the half overheard, half invented stories of Odete Semedo and ends up e.g. in the highly literary narratives of the small anthology Fogo Fácil by Marinho de Pina.