Cheikh Hamidou Kane was one of those iconic figures, a leading light whose life story became intertwined with that of his nation. The Senegalese author was tireless, driven by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, even well into his old age. In April 2018, just days after his 90th birthday, the devout Muslim was still looking ahead. Speaking with Le Monde, he had mentioned his latest project: Writing an animated film about Sundiata Keita (1190-1255), the founder of the Mandinka Empire.

Senegalese people had come to see Kane's presence as immutable, so key was his voice in shaping the narrative of their past. As a witness and participant in Senegal's contemporary history, from colonization to the modern state, Kane embodied part of the country's living memory. He died in Dakar on October 3, at 98.

Born in Matam, northern Senegal, on April 2, 1928, Kane was a major writer and leading statesman of independent Senegal. He is best known for his novel L'Aventure Ambiguë (Ambiguous Adventure), a philosophical account and classic of Africa's literary heritage. Since the 1960s, the transgenerational book has been studied in countless schools and universities across the continent and translated into 40 languages. First published by Julliard/Présence Africaine in 1961, a year after a wave of African countries gained independence, the novel powerfully captures the newly born nations' doubts and disoriented identities.

Through the character Samba Diallo, his literary alter ego, Kane opened up a debate central to the idea of otherness.