DADI, BERNARD BINLIN

born 1916, Assini, Cte d'Ivoire Ivoirian poet, dramatist, novelist, and administrator whose works have been inspired both by traditional themes from Africa's past and by a need to assert the modern African's desire for equality, dignity, and freedom. Dadi received his higher education in Senegal, where his involvement in a folklore and drama movement first encouraged him to write plays. This interest continued when he returned to Cte d'Ivoire in 1947 (after acquiring a diploma in administration and working 11 years at the Institut Franais d'Afrique Noire); it led to his work as teacher, writer, founder of a National Drama Studio, and eventually minister of culture (from 1961) for Cte d'Ivoire. His first published work was a collection of poems, Afrique debout (1950; Africa Upright), followed by two volumes of stories, Lgendes africaines (1954; African Legends) and Le Pague noir (1955; The Black Cloth). The autobiographical novel Climbi (1956) re-creates the social milieu of colonial Cte d'Ivoire. Un Ngre Paris (1959), his examination of Parisian society, is presented in epistolary form. Dadi's love of Africa's oral traditions caused him to collect and publish several more volumes of legends, fables, folktales, and proverbs, which he felt provided the moral backbone of African society. Two later novels, Patron de New York (1964) and La Ville o nul ne meurt (1968; The City Where No One Dies), satirize American and Roman life and society. Between 1967 and 1970 he published another verse collection and several plays, including Monsieur Thg-gnini (1970). Later works include the novel Commandant Taurcault et ses ngres (1980; Commander Taurcault and His Negroes) and Les Contes de Koutou-As-Samala (1982; The Stories of Koutou-As-Samala), a book of short stories.