Afrika

Afrika is set over the course of forty-eight hours, over ten chapters, as Legation Councillor Gustav von Strinetzky grows increasingly concerned about an upcoming duel he is set to fight. It takes place during the Berlin Conference, where ambassadors have gathered to agree on who is to oversee different parts of Africa. Gustav is pulled in and out of the conference, and his mind wanders often, dragging the narrative away from the official proceedings.

The novel opens as Gustav wakes, plagued by thoughts of his upcoming duel. The details of this duel are still hazy, to both the reader and Gustav, who is unaware of the conventions of duelling. His barber arrives for his daily shave and asks him about the Berlin Conference – or the Africa Conference, as they call it – which is taking place at the time, though this is of secondary importance to Gustav.

Gustav is called into the ambassador’s office, where the ambassador is playing the piano. It becomes clear that this conference is of secondary importance to the ambassador too, who is more focused on his music – and his budding friendship with Franz Liszt – than he is on the carve-up of Africa. As such, he sends Gustav to this conference in his stead, despite his protestations, as he has been asked to play at someone’s sixtieth birthday. The ambassador instructs Gustav to do at this conference what ambassadors do best – nothing.