The Senegalese Novel: A Sociological Study of the Impact of the Politics of Assimilation

206 Pages·1983·11.507 MB·English

by  Ihechukwu Madubuike

The Senegalese Novel
A Sociological Study of the Impact
Of The Politics of Assimilation
IHECHUKWU MADUBUIKE
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An Original by Three Continents Press
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THE SENEGALESE NOVEL
A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE IMPACT
OF THE POLITICS OF ASSIMILATION
MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.0rg/details/senegalesenovelsOOOOmadu
THE SENEGALESE NOVEL
A SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF THE IMPACT
OF THE POLITICS OF ASSIMILATION
Ihechukwu Madubuike
An Original by Three Continents Press
/n^
nts
®Ihechukwu Madubuike 1983
®1974 Jeune Afrique for maps and photos on
pages 99, 108-109, 156-157, 192, and 222.
FIRST EDITION
Three Continents Press
1346 Connecticut Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever, without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations in
critical articles and reviews. For informa¬
tion write the publisher.
Cover Design ® D. Herdeck
ISBN: 0-89410-000-9
0-89410-001-7 (pbk)
LC No: 81-51650
To my father and mother
library
MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY

PREFACE
Studies on the Senegalese novel have emphasized wrongly the non¬
militant attitude of Senegalese writers vis-a-vis colonization. This “literary
pacifism” is usually attributed to the French colonial policy in Senegal. The
assumption is that writers did not question this policy which, it is implied, they
wholeheartedly endorsed.^
A detailed study of the novels, however, leads to a different conclusion.
With the exception of Force-Bonte,^ there is no Senegalese novel which can
be perceived as an unqualified song of praise devoted to the French ad¬
ministration in Senegal. It is true that the same type of militancy which exudes
from the pages of the novels of a Mongo Beti or of an Oyono (perhaps the
two most caustic of all the anti-colonial African writers) are absent, but often,
with a style that is highly controlled and sober, the majority of Senegalese
writers challenge the tenets of the politics of assimilation. Their works can in
no way be construed as a panegyric of the colonial administration.
I willingly express my indebtedness to many persons and sources. I am
grateful to Madame Lilyan Kesteloot of the University of Paris, who super¬
vised the first plans of this work and suggested many bibliographies.
The State University of New York at Buffalo gave me a one year’s study
grant which made it possible for me to carry out research in Paris and Senegal
on the topic of this book. Several students from Senegal with whom I lived in
Paris and Dakar provided pertinent commentaries. To my delight, most of
them were only too eager to agree with the conclusions I reached in sections
of this work. Deserving special mention here are Arouna Diop, son of Majh-
mout Diop, with whom I lived for several months in Paris, and Ousmane
Sane with whom I stayed in Dakar, and who took me around in Senegal. My
discussions with Professors Mohammadou Kane and Abdoulaye Diop of the
University of Dakar and I.F.A.N., respectively, and my conversations with
Sembene Ousmane, Birago Diop, Cheikh Anta Diop and Pathe Diagne in¬
fluenced the result of this study more than I can adequately acknowledge. I
am also indebted to Professors O. Mezu, Olga Bernal and Pierre Aubery, who
all read this manuscript in French, and to Charles Nnolim, and to
Onwuchekwa Jemie who read parts of this manuscript in English. Finally, I
wish to thank my wife, my children and my editor for their invaluable time,
patience and help.
The notes contain occasional references to novels written in French
which have been translated into English and which I used. Otherwise, the
Vlll The Senegalese Novel
translations from French to English are mine. I have also used the terms
French and “the West" interchangeably, and have sometimes assimilated
Africa to Senegal.
Quotations from the novels serving as major foci of this study are
referenced in parentheses with abbreviations established for each title page.
'See, for instance, A.C. Brench, The Novelists’ Inheritance in French Africa, London, Ox¬
ford University Press, 1967, and A. Nicollet, Le roman senegalais; miroir d’une societe, Sor-
bonne. These, Seme cycle, 1967.
^Bakary Diallo, Force-Bonte, Paris, Edition Rieder, 1926.