Cheikh Hamidou Kane, a Senegalese writer and civil servant whose 1961 novel, “Ambiguous Adventure,” reshaped perceptions of the colonial relationship, has died. He was 98.

Mr. Kane’s death was announced by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye of Senegal on social media. He died on Sunday at home in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, according to his son Amadou Kane.

“He gave generations of Africans the words to grapple with a question that still haunts us: that of opening ourselves to the world’s knowledge without losing anything of who we are,” Mr. Faye wrote. “His work now belongs to the heritage of our Nation and of all Africa.”

Despite publishing only two novels, Mr. Kane achieved the status of Pan-African seer and was lauded as one of the founding fathers of African literature and as a writer who subtly captured the shock of colonization from the perspective of the continent’s people.