Life at close range Crime fiction with an African flavor

This article examines the work of one of the leading figures of African crime fiction, the Gabonese writer Janis Otsiemi. Otsiemi draws inspiration from an unprecedented phenomenon in Africa: its rapid and chaotic urbanization, and all the disastrous effects of deterritorialization that this can en-tail. Otsiemi’s imaginary gives this deterritorialization new meaning by depicting crime as being sparked by a survival instinct.