{"product_id":"pure-men-isbn-9781635424706","title":"Pure Men","description":"\u003cb\u003eA young professor grapples with homophobia in Muslim Senegal in this searching, heart-wrenching novel from the National Book Award–longlisted author of \u003ci\u003eThe Most Secret Memory of Men\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA viral video makes the rounds in Dakar, showing an incensed crowd that gathers to dig up a grave and drag the corpse from holy ground. When Ndéné, a French literature teacher, watches it, he’s surprisingly affected. Who was this man, and what could he have done to deserve such a fate? The answer soon becomes clear: he was a “góor-jigéen,” one of the so-called “men-women,” the shameful label given to homosexuals, cross-dressers, or any man who lives outside the accepted norm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHaunted by the video, Ndéné sets out to learn more. With the help of a friend who works in night life, he explores a hidden side of Dakar, away from the rigid Islam of his family and university. Although he feels a certain disgust for homosexuality, he’s moved by the suffering and resilience of the people he meets. But the further he goes, the more he doubts his own identity, threatening to become an object of suspicion and scorn himself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA powerful, nuanced portrait of queerness in a conservative society, \u003ci\u003ePure Men \u003c\/i\u003easks the fundamental question of how to find the courage to be true to yourself, whatever the cost.Praise for \u003ci\u003eThe Most Secret Memory of Men\u003c\/i\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA rollicking literary mystery…an aerobatic feat of narrative invention, whirling between noir, fairy tale, satire, and archival fiction in its self-reflexive meditation on the nature of literary legend…propulsive.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“[\u003ci\u003eThe Most Secret Memory of Men\u003c\/i\u003e] travels through space and time, from contemporary Paris to postwar Argentina to a Senegalese village. Besides the main narrator, a collection of voices complement one another to form an overall story, as one of the novel’s main goals is to put different realities and traditions ‘on the same level.’” —\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eMohamed Mbougar Sarr \u003c\/b\u003ewas born in Dakar in 1990. He studied literature and philosophy at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. \u003ci\u003eBrotherhood\u003c\/i\u003e, his first novel, won the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, the Prix Ahmadou Kourouma, and the French Voices Grand Prize. The president of Senegal named him a Chevalier of the National Order of Merit. He won the 2021 Goncourt Prize for his novel \u003ci\u003eThe Most Secret Memory of Men\u003c\/i\u003e (Other Press, 2023), becoming the first sub-Saharan African to do so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLara Vergnaud\u003c\/b\u003e is a translator of prose, creative nonfiction, and scholarly works from the French. She is the recipient of two PEN\/Heim Translation Fund Grants and a French Voices Grand Prize, and has been nominated for the National Translation Award. She lives in Washington, DC.","brand":"Other Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48233496183013,"sku":"NP9781635424706","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781635424706.jpg?v=1767735228","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/pure-men-isbn-9781635424706","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}