Behind God’s Back

HBF: It was my way of delineating social classes and their reactions to the questions of patriotism and nationalism in a situation of political crisis. Again, the attempt was to draw our attention to that facet of our history which some ethnicists were trying to deny after the coup: that there ever were progressive and enlightened members of that social group called Americo-Liberians. This perception was ahistorical and downright reactionary. There have always been enlightened and progressive members of that group as one could see from the works of Blyden, Barclay, Bracewell, etc. Joe Benson was a symbol of that progressive tendency within this group which had maintained power after Barclay, would have altered the history of our country in a very positive direction.

When I came across Dr. Fahnbulleh’s novel, “Behind God’s Back” at a local library in Monrovia in 2010, I was fascinated to know that he’s not only a militant agitator for social political change in Liberia, but a very good creative writer. I had read so much of his militant polemics of vexing Liberian social issues. But I could not imagine he had written a brilliant novel such as “Behind God’s Back.” Perhaps what fascinated me more than anything about this novel is the fact that as much as Dr. Fahnbulleh is well…

Tag: Behind God’s Back

On his-Novel Behind God’s Back: a chat with Dr. HB Fahnbulleh, Jr.