'What Napoleon Could Not Do' occupies the space between African and American identity

NPR's Book of the Day

NPR

Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

There are three central characters in DK Nnuro's new novel, What Napoleon Could Not Do. Belinda and Jacob are Ghanaian siblings who aspire to move to America and be accepted into the opportunities offered there. On the contrary, Wilder – Belinda's American husband, a Black Texan – has a completely different view of his home country and its treatment towards people like him. In today's episode, Nnuro tells NPR's Scott Simon about how he hoped to capture the tension between African and American identity, and why he thinks there should be more of an ellipsis than a dash between the two.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Linda Holmes, and this is NPR's book of the day. Out of all the questions that can animate
0:07.9	pieces of fiction, maybe one of the most potent is just this. Where is home? What house, what street, what city?
0:16.8	Or as in D.K. Noro's novel, What Napoleon could Not Do, What Country? The book is about a brother and sister from Ghana who both want to come to the United States. She gets there and marries a Texan, but struggles to get a green card. She's at home there, but also not at home. For him, even getting to the United States remains only a goal.
0:40.0	Nero tells NPR's Scott Simon that the book was inspired in part by attention within the term African American.
0:47.9	In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:52.7	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.
0:59.3	NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:06.9	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:12.8	Jacob Enti envies his sister Belinda because she's done, as their father puts it, what Napoleon could not do.
1:21.1	She went to college and law school in the United States and married a wealthy man, Wilder, who is black, and from Texas.
1:27.8	Well, Jacob longs to come to Virginia and join his wife, Patricia.
1:32.5	But green cards are hard to come by.
1:35.5	What Napoleon could not do is the title of D.K. Nuro's debut novel.
1:39.7	He was born in Ghana.
1:41.5	Has taught novel writing at the University of Iowa and is currently curator of
1:45.2	special projects at the University's Stanley Museum of Art. Mr. Niro joins us now from Iowa City.
1:51.9	Thank you so much for being with us.
1:53.6	Thank you so much for having me, Scott.
1:55.5	You have this trio, Jacob, Belinda, brother, and sister, and then Wilder. What does living in the U.S. mean to Jacob and Belinda, brother, and sister, and then Wilder.
2:01.1	What does living in the U.S. mean to Jacob and Belinda growing up in Ghana?
2:07.8	You know, when I first conceived of these three characters,
2:12.1	I thought about the writer Jolani Cobb, who says that there is a fundamental dissonance in the term African-American.
	...

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