David Diop; translated by Anna Moschovakis
Winner of the 2021 International Booker Prize, At Night All Blood is Black by David Diop, translated from the French by Anna Moschovakis, chronicles the descent into madness by a Senegalese soldier fighting with the French in the trenches in World War I.
Unfolding in the first-person point of view of Alfa Ndiaye, the novels opens with a shocking image and revelation. Alfa Ndiaye’s “more-than-brother” childhood friend, Mademba Diop, has been fatally wounded. With his guts sprawled outside his body, he pleads with Ndaiye three times to put him out of his misery. Ndaiye can’t do it. He lies next to him and waits for him to die. As soon as Mademba takes his last breath, Ndaiye experiences a profound sense of guilt for not honoring his friend’s last request. He carries his friend’s body back to the trench for burial. And that is when he begins to unravel.
Ndaiye embarks on a gruesome ritual of capturing German soldiers to torture and mutilate. He slits open the stomach of each soldier he captures, pulls out his insides, and lies next to him to watch him die. He severs the soldier’s hand and takes it back to the trenches as a trophy. Initially, his comrades congratulate him for his bravery and ingenuity. But after he brings back the seventh severed hand, they begin to fear and avoid him as a devourer of souls. Eventually, Ndaiye is sent to a field hospital to recuperate.
A series of flashbacks about his childhood and his friendship with Mademba convince Ndaiye he is to blame for Mademba’s death. Consumed with guilt, he circles back to his childhood, his first sexual encounter, and he contrasts his impressive physique with that of Mademba. His conviction that a young French nurse in the hospital physically desires him leads to rape. His constant refrain that he speaks “God’s truth” is ironic since he is far from being a reliable narrator.
The contrast between Ndaiye’s childhood and his touching first sexual experience to the brutal, torture-loving man he becomes is horrific. His descent into madness is replete with graphic images of female sexual organs as metaphors for the trenches. Ndaiye recognizes the insanity of war which expects the savagery and madness be switched on or off with the flip of a switch at the captain’s command. He also sees that exploitation of the “chocolat” soldiers is reinforced by the French captain using racist stereotypes to urge the African soldiers to behave with excess brutality on the battlefield.
The language is visceral and graphic; the translation sounds authentic, capturing Ndaiye’s rhythmic diction. The novel opens with the words, “ . . . I KNOW, I UNDERSTAND, I shouldn’t have done it.” Done what? The question is open-ended since there is so much he shouldn’t have done. Desperate for atonement, Ndaiye’s struggle and descent into madness graphically illustrate the savage consequences of war and its horrific impact on the psyche by stripping it of compassion and humanity.
Depicting the intersection of racism, masculinity, violence, and war, this is a compelling novel. But it may not be for everyone because of its graphic description of violence.