Dahomey - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

The Kingdom of Dahomey has been depicted in a number of different literary works of fiction or creative nonfiction. In Dahomey (1903) was a successful Broadway musical, the first full-length Broadway musical written entirely by African Americans, in the early 20th century. Novelist Paul Hazoumé's first novel Doguicimi (1938) was based on decades of research into the oral traditions of the Kingdom of Dahomey during King Ghezo. American novelist Frank Yerby published a historical novel set partially in Dahomey titled The Man From Dahomey (1971). British author George MacDonald Fraser published Flash for Freedom! (1971), the third novel in the Flashman series that was set in Dahomey during the slave trade. Bruce Chatwin's historical novel The Viceroy of Ouidah (1980) is largely based around Francisco Felix de Sousa, the slave trader who helped bring King Ghezo to power. The book resulted in the film adaptation Cobra Verde (1987) by Werner Herzog. Ben Okri's novel The Famished Road (1991), which won the Man Booker Prize, tells the story of a person caught in the slave trade through Dahomey.

Behanzin's resistance to the French has been central to a number of works. Jean Pliya's first play Kondo le requin (1967), winner of the Grand Prize for Black African History Literature, tells the story of Behanzin's resistance. Maryse Condé's novel The Last of the African Kings (1992) similarly focuses on Behanzin's resistance and his exile to the Caribbean.