The Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship trilogy is concluded with the novel
Close Sesame, which, despite its title, is one of Farah’s most inconclusive and indeterminate novels. The trilogy represents the most extensive African literary meditation on authoritarianism and resisting tyranny. However, at its close, the power of the Dictator (based on the historical Muhammed Siad Barre, a Somali General who came into power by military coup) remains unassailable. Furthermore, the shadowy resistance movement, alluded to in the first two novels, appears to be entirely liquidated. Contrasted with the absolute power and control of the Dictator, however, is the vertiginous doubt of the narrative itself where “the ambiguous and paradoxical, the unexplained and indeterminate,…
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Citation: Moolla, F. Fiona. "Close Sesame". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 March 2020 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=30487, accessed 25 November 2024.]
