It took Daniel a long time to understand the word "home". And then he realized that whatever it was, it was far away from where he had been taken to. Hans Bengler, Swedish eccentric and somewhat hapless entomologist, had "adopted" the seven or eight year old San boy, Molo, during his expedition to the Kalahari Desert in then German South-West Africa in search of previously unidentified insects. With some specimens in his display cases, he decides to return to Sweden to exhibit his insect collection and the boy. Henning Mankell, well known for his Kurt Wallander and other crime novels, and a convincing story teller, has embarked with DANIEL into a world that is both still vivid in present day societies' minds and attitudes, yet, fortunately, has also been disappearing since the time of "first contact" between Africans and Europeans. Mankell presents us with a touching and intriguing story that exemplifies the need and importance of cross-cultural respect and appreciation, based on sensitivity and effort to listen to those who come from another culture and tradition - whatever their age - and at the same time to encourage these newcomers to express themselves without fear of ridicule or contempt.The story is set in the late eighteen hundred seventies, a time when a black person was often regarded as some wild and dangerous animal or, at a minimum, as a major curiosity. Already on the ship back to Europe, Bengler prepares young Molo, who he renames Daniel, for his "proper" behaviour in the new country and teaches him a smidgen of Swedish. Life upon return to Sweden is not easy, though. The novel follows Daniel's experiences in "his new home", from climate to countryside to people to customs. Hardly anybody is interested in the boy's story, of course, and Bengler, who Daniel has to call "Father", tells a story about his "rescue" that has little to do with the reality he had experienced: "I never saw a lion! [...] Father was lying. He was making up a story that was not true at all." So much for being a role model!It takes the author some time to switch from the detailed Bengler story to that of Daniel himself. When he does, the narrative becomes much more engaging and personal: gradually, we learn about Daniel's own feelings and his growing understanding of Swedish society and the huge chasm between this and his life back with his parents Be and Kiko. He had been the only survivor and, also, observer of a massacre (by white people) at his family's camp and the images and memories are a constant and overwhelming presence in his mind. Is the divide between the different world views in any way bridgeable? Once Daniel hears of Jesus' ability to walk on water, he believes he has found the solution to his loneliness: "He who needed to learn the art of walking on water to find the people who were most important in his life." His homesickness is a constant companion as he is moved around Sweden to end up in a small village, far away from the sea. He recognizes that he has to hide his feelings behind eyes that cannot be penetrated by others. Only very few individuals, however, make the effort to try. Several times he runs away, each time learning more about what he needs to do to succeed...Daniel's story, whether based on a historical person or purely imagined, reminded me somewhat of that of Francis Barber, who came to England as a young slave, gained his freedom with the help of Dr. Samuel Johnson, the famous 18th century literary figure, and whose long time companion he became. Although this case of "adaptation" happened more than 100 years earlier, it ended rather differently. Apparently Swedes did not encounter black people on their shores until more than a hundred years later. Mankell is at pains to make the point very clearly when he describes the reactions of the locals to Daniel that range from loud yelling outbursts, to pointing, to poking to running away to trying to tie him up with a rope. Some see the boy as a personification of the Devil. The author succeeds in his efforts to bring us closer to Daniel's world and his perception of the two realities he has to cope with and builds in the reader feelings of empathy, solidarity and affection for young Molo. Personally, I found, however, that he may have given the nine-year old a more mature understanding and more advanced ability to analyze his surroundings than one would feel is plausible and credible, given the boy's age. On the other hand, Bengler's behaviour read, at times, more like a farce that was not really fitting the seriousness and emotional depth of the novel as a whole.
This book is extremely poignant and compelling as well as being unsettling. It is the story of a strange Swede, Hans Bengler, who goes to Africa to find an unknown species of insect to name after himself. He ends up finding an orphaned black boy about 8 years old whom he brings back to Sweden. He feels that he can give him a better life even though the trader where he found the boy tells him he will only destroy the boy.Hans uses Daniel in part of a carnival type lecture series to get people to come in and listen to his lecture on insects. Non of the people involved consider Daniel or his needs. Daniel, on the other hand, longs for his home in the desert and sees, in his mind, his parents who were killed by white men. He meets with people who stare at him, pet him and sometimes regard his as the devil, but no one thinks of him as a real person. Daniel has been trained to say, "My name is Daniel. I believe in God" as a formula, but in his own mind, the voices of his parents are growing stronger and stronger. He hears of Jesus, who walked on water, and he is determined to learn to walk on water in order to go home.The book calls into question the recent adoptions of young children whose culture is so different from the one they are adopted into, especially children older than 3-4. There are a lot of cultural implications that may not be being considered.
What do You think about Daniel (2010)?
Que historia tan triste. Mucha buena voluntad, poco cerebro y mucha soberbia de los poderes coloniales. Aunque la mayoría de los suecos en la historia son buenos, desde el propio Hans al Rey, pasando por todos los personajes, al final, parece que todos convergemos en el mínimo común denominador.Hans tenía muy buenas intenciones al llevarse a Bolo, después renombrado a "Daniel creo en Dios", pero pareciera que jamás se detuvo a pensar en un momento en las consecuencias que podría traer el sacar a un niño negro de su ambiente subsahariano y llevarlo al invierno sueco. El golpe entre civilizaciones es enorme, y aunque durante un buen rato Hans busca una vida digna para "Daniel creo en Dios" termina convirtiéndolo en lo que le aborrecía: un espectáculo de feria de pueblo.La narración y las cosas en que te hace pensar, son muy buenas. Sin embargo no se si la visión de Bolo (lo que el interpretaba, sobre todo en la segunda y tercera parte del libro) corresponden a una realidad de la gente que vivía en el "África Alemana" o a una versión europea de la realidad de la gente que vivía en el África Alemana.Aún así, buena lectura triste que me puso un tanto melancólico.
—Luis Fernando Franco
When I started this book, I was not sure if I liked it (I listened to the audio version). . . it begins a very strange story. . . but it became more and more enticing as I moved through it. By the end I saw it as a legend, a myth, a folk tale perhaps based on a very old story of a small African boy who was taken from his home to a very strange land. He never gives up his dream of getting back home to the Kalahari. It is a very haunting and strange tale, but by the end I was left with a ghostly but magical sense of rightness. A very unusual piece of literature.
—Pat
Daniel, by Henning Mankell, Narrated by H. Ryder Smith, produced by recorded Books, downloaded from audible.com.This is one of the novels which are not mysteries written by Mankell. This novel is about an entomologist from Sweden who is making his way across the African desert looking for rare and unknown insects that he can bring home and put his name to. In Capetown, he comes across a scene where a small boy from a village is found caged at the marketplace. His parents were killed in some kind of a raid and he has been brought there to be a slave. The Swede decides that he will buy the boy and bring him back to Sweden to raise him in civilization. Everyone, both Swedish and African advise him against it, saying that it will only put the boy in a very vulnerable position, being one of the few African boys in the whole country of Sweden, but the man buys him anyway. He names him Daniel. At first he keeps him tied up so that he won’t escape. Finally, they set sail for Sweden. The man has not had good luck with the bugs, and so the only thing he can do to make money is exhibit his adopted son, the Black boy. Eventually he gets in trouble and dumps the boy onto a good Christian couple in Sweden and then he leaves. This is Mankell at his most sarcastic and searing self. The book is about the various superstitions and ignorance of history that pervade the Swedes of the 1870’s about Africa, and that pervade Daniel about Sweden. It is a book full of the vanity of a stupid man who, when he can’t make things work out for his adopted son, abandons him. It is a very good book, which Mankell insists is not based on what did happen to someone, but what could have happened.
—Kathleen Hagen
