Francophone Literatures An Introductory Survey

The first English study of Francophone literatures, this book introducesthe diverse bodies of texts in French from the numerous French-speaking areasaround the world, region by region. Separate sections cover Africa (Sub-Saharanand Maghrebi), French Canada, the Creole islands (in both the Caribbean and theIndian Ocean) and Europe, the most significant areas of study (in terms of thenumber of texts). Introducing the most important authors and texts from theseareas, the book suggests the ways in which the subversiveness of many of thesetexts demands a different critical approach from that which might be adopted forthe study of texts by French authors writing within the established Frenchliterary tradition. Guides to further reading, a select bibliography, and anextensive index combine to make the book an extremely readable introductoryoverview of a little-explored subject.The primary concern of the book is to provide information about the textsinvolved, locating them within various contexts, such as 'Negro-African','black' and post-colonial writing, and exploring the significance andhistoricism of the range of appellative terms which might be applied to thesegroupings. Francophone literatures emerge from bi- and multi-lingual culturesnot simply as a colonial legacy, although this is an inherent part of mostfrancaphone writing, but also as a challenge to the French literary tradition,celebrating their linguistic difference and the possibilities created by such adeviance from such an established tradition and demanding a whole new criticalapproach. The texts studied here cast a new light upon French literature interms of their diverse perspectives upon writing, history, politics, andculture, and their violent rewritings, subversive versions and hilariousparodies often forming an elaborate pastiche of the most traditional Frenchtexts.