TEHRAN-The Persian translation of the book “Dark Age: The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa” written by Brian Titley has been released in the book market across Iran.

Hamid Hashemi Kohandani has translated the book and Vazn-e Donya (literally meaning Weight of the World) Publication has published it, Mehr reported.

Originally published in 1997, the book recounts the turbulent political career of Jean-Bedel Bokassa (1921-1996), the flamboyant president-for-life and later emperor of the Central African Republic (CAR)/Empire. 

It examines the myths and legends surrounding the man and attempts to provide a balanced view of this controversial figure. 

Following a lengthy career in the French Army, Bokassa seized power in the Central African Republic in 1966. His flamboyance and excesses soon became legendary: he was accused of cannibalism, feeding enemies to lions and crocodiles, and beating schoolchildren to death. Bokassa's tendency for self-aggrandizement culminated in 1977 when he named himself emperor and orchestrated a coronation in the style of Napoleon's. He was overthrown by French paratroopers in 1979 and went into exile, but returned to his homeland in 1985 to face a sensational trial.

Titley interprets Bokassa's authoritarian and self-aggrandizing style as an attempt to legitimize his regime in a context devoid of indigenous political structures and explores the troubled relations between France and its former colonies. Combining techniques of historical inquiry and investigative journalism, he has produced a fascinating account of a pivotal chapter in contemporary African history.

The author’s examination of the actual nature of Bokassa's rule reveals a more complex picture than the commonly drawn caricature. The Napoleonic nation-building myth adopted by Bokassa was nearly as alien to his own country, Titley argues. Were it not for the poverty and strategic marginality of the CAR during the Cold War, the rest of the world might have taken Bokassa more seriously.

Titley finds a paradox in Bokassa's Napoleonic pretensions. Although French imperial rule left the CAR a social and economic wreck, the country's postcolonial rulers felt varying degrees of extreme material, political, and even psychological dependence on French power. Titley notes that Bokassa himself spent 20 years in the French military and held dual citizenship. Indeed, French officers handpicked him to lead the newly independent state's army precisely for his seeming lack of attachment to anything African.

Brian Titley is professor emeritus in the Faculty of Education, the University of Lethbridge. A native of Cork, Ireland, he completed an undergraduate degree in history at the National University of Ireland before emigrating to Canada where he spent several years teaching in public schools. A B.Ed. and M.Ed. from the University of Manitoba followed, and in 1980 he earned a Ph.D. in the history of education from the University of Alberta. After a decade of teaching in the Faculty of Education, the University of Alberta, he resigned from his position to move to the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge.

Brian’s research interests have always been eclectic and he has six books to his name that examine authority and resistance in diverse historical epochs and settings: Africa, Canada, Ireland, and the U.S. 

Brian has also produced more than 40 book chapters and articles and has contributed eight essays to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.

SS/SAB