Ces ecrivains d'Afrique Noire (review)

Ces écrivains d'Afrique Noire, by Françoise Cévaër. Ivry-sur-Seine: Editions Nouvelles du Sud, 1998. ISBN 2-87931-134-9.

Ces écrivains d'Afrique Noire consists of interviews with writers, editors, and publishers, and is a first-hand account of the problems faced by authors of African origin, most of them resident in France. They comment on whether they feel the need to be politically committed (many do), and for whom they write--an African audience that often cannot buy their books, or a European audience that still expects exotic tales of tom-toms. Yodi Karone tells how he had to change Un nègre de paille, set in Paris, after French editors said he must write about Africa. So he created a main character who lives in a hut and only dreams of going to Paris! This is particularly ironic as Karone was born in France and has lived there most of
his life.

The writers claim that the French have a limited interest in African literature, but there are few possibilities to sell books in Africa. All speak of the importance of finding a publisher who will promote their work. Whether published by prestigious French firms or those specializing in African literature, they complain of the tendency of the French literary press to put them in a ghetto. (This is still a problem. Gallimard's new series, Continent noir, is viewed with suspicion by a number of writers.) Almost all the writers are critical of "francophonie," which they consider a new form of cultural domination by the French. Several mention that a French author is never classified as francophone.

Authors interviewed include Jean-Marie Adiaffi, Bolya Baenga, Calixthe Beyala, Hédi Bouraoui, Mandé-Alpha Diarra, Yodi Karone, Barnabé Laye, Guy Menga, Jean Métellus, Tierno Monénembo, Williams Sassine, Simon Njami, Jean-Baptiste Tiemélé. There are also interviews with many involved in publishing African literature in France: the founder of Editions Karthala, directors at Présence Africaine and Silex, Jacques Chevrier whose series Monde Noir Poche is published by Hatier. Gilles Carpentier, a literary advisor at Seuil, is the only representative of nonspecialized French publishers. Cévaër's choice of whom to interview is a bit haphazard. While most writers are from sub-Saharan Africa, there are two interviews--with Jean Métellus from Haiti and Hédi Bouraoui, a Tunisian living in Canada--which are rather peripheral to the main concerns. Some of the authors are well-known, with a number of books to their name. Some had, at the time of the interview, published very little. African dramatists--among them Caya Makhélé and Koffi Kwahulé--are omitted.

Although several writers speak of the difficulty of getting published, Tierno Monénembo says that without any contacts, he mailed his first book manuscript to Le Seuil, which accepted it. Those writers published by prestigious publishers often dismiss much of the work of L'Harmattan and Présence Africaine. Others praise Présence Africaine for its long support of African culture, while regretting its lack of a viable policy in the 1980s and '90s. When Cévaër criticizes L'Harmattan books as poorly edited, an editor defends their policy of giving attention primarily to content.

Cévaër did not edit the interviews; this produces a lively conversational tone, but leads sometimes to too much repetition. The interviews are not always dated, but took place some years before the book was published, most around 1990. The biographical introductions should have been updated, as no works after 1993 are mentioned. More disturbing is the failure to mention that Williams Sassine died in 1997.

Adele King

 

Adele King is Professor of French at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

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