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So Long a Letter

Realist and Literary Fiction

So Long a Letter, published in French in 1979 as Une si longue lettre, is a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel by the Senegalese writer Mariama Ba and her debut work. It takes the form of a long letter from its narrator, Ramatoulaye Fall, to her lifelong friend Aissatou, written in the weeks after Ramatoulaye's husband dies, and through it explores the position of women in West African society, including polygamy, widowhood and the strains placed on family life. The novel won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 1980 and has become a standard text in courses on women's writing in postcolonial Africa.

Facts
Classification
Audience
General 1
Original Language
French 1
Award
Noma Award for Publishing in Africa 2
Composed, From (Year)
1980 1
FAQs

Is So Long a Letter a novel or a real letter?

It is an epistolary novel presented as one long letter.

It is a novel written in the form of a letter. Mariama Bâ's book is described as a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel, and its narrator Ramatoulaye Fall writes the whole text as a letter to her friend Aissatou. Because it covers polygamy, Senegalese class hierarchy and religion, early readers found its genre hard to place, and some called it a novel while others referred to it as a letter.
Connections

Authored By

Mariama Bâ, Authors

In Genre

The Novel, Genres
Source Wikipedia: So Long a Letter
In the Other Atlases

Original Language

French

Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.

Originated In

Senegal

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.

Source Wikipedia: So Long a Lettertier 2
Sources
1. Wikipedia: So Long a Letter
Wikipedia
  • Lead
    is a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel originally written in French by the Senegalese writer Mariama Bâ.
  • Lead paragraph
    So Long a Letter (French: Une si longue lettre) is a semi-autobiographical epistolary novel originally written in French by the Senegalese writer Mariama Bâ. It was her first novel. Its theme is the condition of women in Western African society. As the novel begins, Ramatoulaye Fall is beginning a letter to her lifelong friend Aissatou Bâ. The occasion for writing is Ramatoulaye's recent widowhood.
  • In Genre: The Novel, Infobox, genre field
    Genre: Novel
View the Source
2. So Long a Letter (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia: 'It won the first Noma Award for Publishing in Africa in 1980' (checked 2026-09-26)View the Source
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