L’Afrique occidentale dans la littérature française
Scholarly edition of: Roland Lebel, L鈥橝frique occidentale dans la litt茅rature fran莽aise (depuis 1870) [originaly published in 1925], Paris: L鈥橦armattan, coll. 鈥楢utrement m锚mes鈥�, 2014, xlii + 306 pp.
Roland Lebel was a French literary critic and cultural commentator who dedicated his career to the representations of European colonies in literature. This particular book focuses on former French West Africa and provides a critical inventory of the place and role of this part of the world (Senegal, Guinea-Conakry, Ivory Coast, and Mali) in French literature since the Middle Ages. The term 鈥榣iterature鈥� as used by Lebel in the title refers, however, to more than just fiction as it also encompasses works in the humanities and scientific publications (medicine, engineering, botany, agriculture, and veterinary science). Lebel鈥檚 book is therefore a very useful document to gauge French colonial discourse during the Third Republic. In my introduction (pp. v-xxxviii), I provide an analysis of Lebel鈥檚 writing style. I focus here on his tendency to tap into a repository of tropes to reject what he nonetheless adhered to subconsciously (literary orientalism); and his use of the pronoun 鈥榥ous鈥� (we) to convey the authority of his scientific posture but also his ambition to contribute to this collective project of national aggrandisement. This introduction locates Lebel in the cultural landscape of the interwar period, paying particular attention to the fact that this period coincided with the emergence of a recognizable body of African literature in French. In essence, this introduction endeavours to demonstrate that Lebel鈥檚 thesis, for all its prejudices, provides also a commentary on the development of African literature in its nascent stage and resonates with other literary manifestos, not least with the 2007 鈥楳anifeste pour une litt茅rature-monde鈥� (Michel Le Bris & Jean Rouaud).
The original version of the book contained a chronological table which I was not able to include in the reprint. It is now to be found here: Chronological Table Lebel 