The Villain’s Dance

‘Mujila’s powerful imagination, humour and creative use of language shine through . . . The people depicted display verve and ingenuity, but also violence and amorality, reflecting the flamboyance, brutality and corruption of the Mobutu regime and its disastrous effects on Zairian society … But this is no moral treatise. The Villain’s Dance is a dazzling impression of a teeming scene as hedonistic and edgy as the dancefloor at the Mambo de la Fête.’

‘Mujila’s proclivity for cataloguing makes for a colourful reading experience. Roland Glasser’s rich translation does justice to this style, preserving the novel’s wit and word-play.’

‘A raucous and fevered novel, full of magical realism and vivid characterisation, musical with the strains of mambo and jazz, propulsive and violent.’

‘Exuberance and constant inventiveness.’

‘The Villain’s Dance is a vivid, expansive dual narrative set against the backdrop of Mobutu's rule in 1990s Zaire-known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo-and the civil war in Angola. A gorgeous feat of magical realism, intricately infused with stylized prose reminiscent of jazz, this is a tale of darkness, of class and struggle, of light. Roland Glasser's translation brings Mujila's words and dynamic cast of characters to life with a flourish.’

‘Mujila’s frenetic energy is captured in rapturous language by Roland Glasser, translating from the French. Recalling the gritty, exuberant novels of the South African Zakes Mda and the Congolese Alain Mabanckou, Mujila has brought to life a feverish tale of Africa’s underclass, whose demands – like the author’s – are hard to resist.’

‘Mujila’s virtuosic narrative shifts, feverish magical realism, and dizzying chronological leaps make for an intoxicating reading experience. This complex tale bears exquisite fruit.’

‘Poetic and inventive, Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s The Villain’s Dance sees — and mourns — the Angola that could have been.’