Textual Ownership in L'etrange destin de Wangrin (The Fortunes of Wangrin) by Amadou Hampate Ba

Amadou Hampâté Bâ has constantly underplayed the literary status of his writings to emphasize their factual reference and his debt to his oral informants. He does not, for instance, consider L´étrange destin de Wangrin a novel but a narrative written according to the protagonist´s personal testimony. Bâ often presented himself as a witness and an interpreter, not as a professional writer. The paper will explore the multiple relationships between Hampaté Bâ and the informants of his native Pular oral culture, trying to assess the relative weight of innovation and reproduction in his works. It will analyze the various forms of intertextuality visible in works ranging from ethnographic testimonies to a "novel" and a peculiar autobiography (Amkoullel and Oui mon commandant).