•  
  •  
 

Abstract

The historical evolution of the African continent was not smooth; the region experienced many upheavals including two powerful traumas that are slavery and colonialism. It is therefore not surprising that African writers, who are mainly inspired by the world around them, revisit History to write their novels. Among them, the Guinean writer Tierno Monénembo. The writer sheds the light on the history that has painfully shaken his continent, West Africa more precisely. His novels translate the almost obsessive concern to narrate the story of the African continent. We propose to study two of his novels: The king of Kahel (2008) and The black terrorist (2012). In these novels, the author offers a different reading of colonial memory, moving away from the long-standing Manichaeism between white and black. Through the romanticized biography of Viscount Sanderval - driven by a sincere desire to "civilize" the negroes but at the same time to "conquer a kingdom" in the region of Fouta-Djalon-, or that of Addi Bâ, a young Senegalese gunner who will enter, during the Second World War, in France, the reader is invited to dive into a troubled past and discover all the complexity of Franco-African politics. Our purpose is to show the way History fits in the novels of Monénembo, by studying literary devices in the novels as well as the representation of two historical figures: Sanderval and Addi Bâ.

Keywords

Discours historiographique, biographie, référentialité, réécriture postcoloniale

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.