ABSTRACT
Zamenga, Batukezanga b. 1933, Kolo-Luozi, Congo-Zaire; d. 2000, Congo-Zaire novelist and essayist During his lifetime, Zamenga was the most widely read writer in Congo-Zaire.
His simply constructed, often melodramatic tales taken chiefly from real-life situations appealed to an audience of readers who could relate to them and who found inspiration in the author’s moral perspective. Publishing exclusively in local presses, such as Éditions Saint-Paul-Afrique, Éditions Basenzi, and Éditions Zabat, he produced around two dozen titles, many of which have become classics of a sort in the nation’s literary canon. In Carte postale (Postcard), which has sold over 55,000 copies since its publication in 1974, Zamenga uses the experiences of an African student who goes to Europe to attend university to satirize both the colonizer’s claims of cultural superiority and the alienation of the been-to from his society. Zamenga was educated in Belgium, where he studied applied social sciences. He was a contributor to the review L’àtoile du Congo on sociological subjects and served as director of SONECA, the national society of editors, composers, and authors.
