A razor-sharp satirical novel of post-independence Senegal, exposing the hollow pretensions and moral rot of an emergent corrupt elite.
El Hadji Abdou Kader Beye is a wealthy member of the new Senegalese business elite who celebrates his economic ascent by taking a third wife, nineteen-year-old N'Gone. On the wedding night, his triumphant world shatters when he is struck by the xala—a curse of erectile impotence. Convinced he is the target of black magic, El Hadji sinks into paranoia as his three wives, his demanding in-laws, and his cynical business colleagues turn his personal humiliation into a public spectacle.
As El Hadji frantically squanders his fortunes on marabouts and rituals in search of a cure, his business empire collapses into bankruptcy and dishonour. In Xala, Sembène Ousmane crafts a scathing cautionary fable where male pride, polygamy, and bourgeois greed collide with the biting justice of Dakar's forgotten underclass. Will El Hadji submit to the ultimate public penance to restore his manhood?