The Slaughterhouse of Dreams

A new poetic form from National Book Award finalist Fiston Mwanza Mujila, lauded author of novels Tram 83 and The Villain's Dance and poetry collection The River in the Belly.

The Slaughterhouse of Dreams is rooted in a traditional Congolese form of praise poem, the kasala, that ties together proverbs, origin stories, fables, and riddles into a recitation accompanied by music. In Mwanza Mujila's skilled hands, this oral tradition becomes a new multimedia form, set to the page while retaining the remarkable drama, emotion, and celebration of its performed root. In The Slaughterhouse of Dreams, multiple lyrical traditions create a hybrid world of global spaces and layers of time. With the rhythmic, frenetic energy that unites his poetry, prose, and performances, Fiston Mwanza Mujila reanimates and simultaneously deconstructs ideas of the (post)colonial environment.