One should never judge a book by its cover, but I chose to read V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River because I liked the photograph on the front of the man wearing a mask.  I’ve always been interested in masks.  Over the years I’ve collected quite a few and my favorites are the ones that I’ve bargained for on the street.  The best one I have is an ancient looking piece carved out of the side of a tree trunk and painted with thick red and black stripes.  I bought it from a man in Gisenyi, Rwanda.  After a crude exchange of French I got the mask (and three hand rolled cigars thrown in) for $5.  He pointed across the lake towards Bukavu, DRC and told me that it came from a spot of bush on the horizon.  In A Bend in the River, masks symbolize the post-colonial tension between foreigners and Africans.  Who controls the path of the continent?  Is it determined by Africans acting under the mask of Europeanism?  Or is it the Europeans who continue to lead under a mask of Africanism?  What is the true face of African development?  Characters like Father Huismans, Raymond, Ferdinand, and Salim add insight to these questions. Continue reading →