The Utopian Generation

A seminal novel of African decolonization available for the first time in English translation.

Lisbon 1961. Aware that the secret police are watching them, four young Angolans discuss their plans for a utopian homeland free from Portuguese rule. When war breaks out, they flee to France and must decide whether they will return home to join the fight. Two remain in exile and two return to Angola to become guerilla fighters, barely escaping capture over the course of the brutal fourteen-year war. Reunited in the capital of Luanda, the old friends face independence with their confidence shaken and struggle to build a new society free of the corruption and violence of colonial rule.

Pepetela, a former revolutionary guerilla fighter and Angolan government minister, is the author of more than twenty novels that have won prizes in Africa, Europe, and South America. The Utopian Generation is widely considered in the Portuguese-speaking world an essential novel of African decolonization--and is now available in English translation for the first time.

Born in Benguela, Angola, Pepetela fought as an MPLA guerrilla from 1969 to 1975, seeing front-line service against the armies of Portugal and apartheid South Africa, as well as rival rebel groups. After Angolan independence, he was Deputy Minister of Education (1976-82) and taught sociology at Agostinho Neto University (1984-2008). Awarded the Camões Prize, the Portuguese language’s highest literary award, for his life’s work, Pepetela is the author of twenty-one novels that have won prizes in Holland, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, and Angola, and have been published in more than twenty languages. He lives in Luanda, Angola.

David Brookshaw’s many translations include Mia Couto’s selected stories Sea Loves Me and his recent novels Woman of the Ashes and The Sword and the Spear. He has translated widely from the literatures of Lusophone Asia and the Azores Islands. Brookshaw is Professor Emeritus of Lusophone Studies at the University of Bristol, England.