Ecritures litteraires: Dictionnaire critique des oeuvres africaines de langue francaise (review)

Poet, novelist, playwright, and literary critic Pius Ngandu Nkashama is the author of several works, including writings in Ciluba. The two volumes of his Ecritures littéraires could be considered a revised version of his Dictionnaire des oeuvres littéraires africaines de langue française published in 1995 with Editions Nouvelles du Sud, a work, he admits, whose "caractère de 'bricolage' semblait plus visible, particulièrement du point de vue des mécanismes utilisés pour sa presentation" 'whose do-it-yourself quality seemed readily apparent, mainly from the standpoint of its presentational format' (2).

Nevertheless, as in the earlier work Ngandu's undertaking is astonishing in more than one respect. To bring out all by himself a work of more than one thousand pages is already a feat in itself. And when those thousand pages treat 966 works and 468 authors, he's accomplished the impossible. In his introduction, Ngandu acknowledges wanting to write "in the tradition of Masterpieces" and suggests that his work "se veut un inventaire sur les oeuvres majeures de la littérature africaine de langue française" 'is intended as an inventory of the major works of French-language African literature' (2). In that regard, he pursued a different objective than that of the Dictionnaire des oeuvres littéraires de langue africaine en Afrique au sud du Sahara, vols. 1 and 2 (1983, 1996), which I directed and which he also cites in his introduction. The collective nature of that work allowed me to present a variety of viewpoints and sought to take into account little-known authors and texts "pour servir de point de depart à une histoire générale et complete des littératures du continent noir" 'to serve as a point of departure for a general and complete history of the literatures of the Dark Continent' (avant-propos).

Ngandu's dictionary entries are basically descriptive and somewhat unequal. Whereas some works are treated in just one or two sentences (A la recherche de cannibale amour, 24; Aurore, 59; L'avenue des sables, 62; Les aventures de Ngoy, 67; etc.), others are given the benefit of substantial criticism (Assèze l'Africaine, 46; Bleu, blanc, rouge, 88; Le récit de la mort, 800; etc.). On occasion, a few citations take the place of commentaries (L'arbre et le fruit, 38; L'avenue des sables, 62; Bananes citronnées, 75; Le chemin de la mémoire, 157; etc.). Such an approach is especially discernable with regard to Ngandu's own writings: La deliverance d'illunga, 253; Le doyen Marri, 294; Vie et mûrs d'un primitive en Essonne quatre-vingt-onze, 989; etc.). Furthermore, some commentaries are limited to extracts of a quarter of the dustcover (Le chemin de la mémoire, 157; La promesse des fleurs, 784; Racines brisées, 795, etc.).

The new work nevertheless furnishes useful information about a number of authors, with Ngandu giving not only the year and country of birth, but also revealing to us assorted pseudonyms. It was generally known that behind Eza Boto and Mongo Beti stood Alexandre Biyi, that René Philombe was actually named Philippe Ombédé, or that Sylvain Bemba also published under the names Martial Malinda and Belvain Michel. But beyond those few who were privy to the facts, how many scholars knew that Sony Labou Tansi was called Sony Marcel, that Ken Bugul is Mbaye Mariétou Biléoma in civilian life, that Yodi Karone and Dye Alain are one and the same person, or that Ndao Cheikh Aliou is Sidi Ahmed Alioune! An entire study could be undertaken on the use of pseudonyms in literary Africa.

While the author has his eye trained mostly on "Masterpieces," one of the great merits of his enterprise consists...