So Long A Letter Book [patched] May 2026

Here’s a on Mariama Bâ’s seminal novella, So Long a Letter (original French title: Une si longue lettre ). 1. Overview & Context Published: 1979 (French), 1981 (English translation by Modupé Bodé-Thomas) Author: Mariama Bâ (1929–1981), a Senegalese teacher, feminist, and activist. Genre: Epistolary novel (autobiographical fiction), feminist literature, postcolonial literature.

The book is written as a single, raw, intimate letter from , a recently widowed Senegalese schoolteacher, to her childhood friend Aissatou . Over its 96 pages (in English), Ramatoulaye reflects on her 30-year marriage, her husband’s polygamous betrayal, her grief, and the condition of women in post-independence Senegal. 2. Plot Summary Ramatoulaye’s husband, Modou Fall , dies suddenly of a heart attack. After the obligatory Muslim mourning period (idah), she writes to Aissatou, who lives in the U.S. as a diplomat after divorcing her own unfaithful husband. so long a letter book