Écriture de la violence dans le roman africain francophone des années 1990 : une esthétique dans le cri : le cas des deux Congo
(2011)
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- Authors
- Supervisors
- Tilleuil, Jean-Louis
- Abstract
- (en) This study explains the way in which six African writers depict and denounce postcolonial violence in Africa in the period 1990 – 2000. In particular, it shows how the narrative strategies used by these novelists support the expression of this violence. The analysis shows that the entire mechanics of fictional writing operate to this end: the theme of violence is built up following a continuous and linear progression of the thematic sub-units which make up the central axis of this violence; the distribution of the narrative roles is directed in relation to the categorization of the characters; the latter are characterized according to specific modalities which are most often borrowed from the traditional African narrative, which assimilates them (especially those wielding power) to monsters or ferocious beings; space and time are designed and described as proper actors in the distribution process of this violence; the narrative system whose variations tend to match, translate and authenticate the violence thus represented; many other narrative and rhetorical processes are used to amplify the tragic and beyond that the satirical tone of the texts analyzed. The entire narrative mechanics contrive to make perceivable the violence which Man inflicts on the world described. Postcolonial African society, which the fictional world portrays, is described here like the jungle: those wielding power (those who inflict violence) are like monsters or ferocious beasts and the people are their prey. The indictment made against this world of excessive violence makes the analyzed texts sound like a cry: a cry of distress and anger, but also, ultimately, a cry for freedom, peace and food, in short, happiness for all. However, the analysis also shows that this writing about violence, gives rise to a violent style of writing, as close attention is paid to the question of form, and thus to the aesthetic dimension of the works studied. This thesis is original in that it illustrates in a detailed and convincing way the link between the representation of violence and the search for artistic beauty through formal strategies developed by the authors of the corpus. Such work has not always been done, or has not been done enough, in most previous studies on the subject. By stating that the introduction of the political element (in this case, violence) in the novel can be combined with the search for beauty, which means that expressing the cry does not exclude the quest for beauty, this study makes it possible to take a stance in the debate on the commitment of African writers. It tends to denounce and qualify the argument of inhibited creative activity held by the defenders of the world literature against the grafting of history on to the works, and thus against the concept of commitment. Moreover, it includes fiction writing by the authors considered in the dynamics of the aesthetic renewal which began in the previous decades (before 1990). It also confirms the topicality of the concept of commitment in African literature from the dual political (description of the immediate reality) and literary point of view (quest for the aesthetics of efficiency). In this respect, this study could serve as a benchmark for research into the perspective of literary history, particularly when considering the question of writing and commitment in the Congolese novel between 1990 and 2000. As regards this same question and period, it could even serve to illustrate the situation of African novels written in French in the whole of the black continent.
- Affiliations
Citations
Kangulumba Munzenza, W. (2011). Écriture de la violence dans le roman africain francophone des années 1990 : une esthétique dans le cri : le cas des deux Congo. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/158604