Lucie Cousturier: les tirailleurs sénégalais et la question coloniale (review)

In the literary history of Africa there is no lack of forgotten authors and mediators. Lucie Cousturier is one of those lesser known artists and intellectuals who dedicated themselves to the promotion of African writing and who, despite their relative obscurity, have had a considerable impact on the development of francophone African literatures. She is, for example, known to have paved the way for Force-Bonté, a Senegalese novella by Bakary Diallo, and rumors even say that she was not only the patron of Diallo and other authors but actually wrote the text herself. But who really was Lucie Cousturier? Roger Little's book attempts to find answers beyond the purely anecdotal. A focal point here is, as the title of the anthology suggests, Cousturier's encounter with tirailleurs sénégalais, who, during World War I, were stationed in her hometown of Fréjus in the southeast of France. Through her contacts with these soldiers the talented painter became an eager patron of African artists and a passionate Africa traveler.

To cover the many different facets of Cousturier's character, Roger Little's anthology collects contributions by art historians, literary critics, historians, and military officials. The book is divided in three parts: The first is dedicated to Cousturier the artist and art theorist; the second focuses on her contacts with the tirailleurs sénégalais; the third presents yet unpublished letters from Cousturier to her fellow painter Paul Signac and the art critic Léon Werth.

Part one, dealing with Couturier's work as a neo-impressionist artist, provides the reader with precise biographic details mainly concerning her difficult relationship with her colleague Georges Seurat and her friendship with Paul Signac. Another instructive article, focusing on her reception of Carl Einstein's theories, sheds light on her position with respect to the art theory of her time. Africa in general and more specifically the tirailleurs sénégalais repeatedly make their appearance in this part dedicated to Cousturier's art and life—for example, in the discussion of her position on the contemporary fashion of primitivism or in passages from letters that show her commitment to the tirailleurs in Fréjus, whom she supports, whose illiteracy she attempts to overcome, and whose lives she portrays.

The second part of Little's book provides a historical perspective on the tirailleurs sénégalais, sheds light on the contemporary background, and shows how the problems of the African soldiers have been taken up in different media, for example, in the movies of Sembène Ousmane or in novels such as René Maran's Batouala. This general perspective is constantly put in reference to Cousturier's encounter with the African soldiers.

Roger Little's anthology gives a lively picture of Cousturier's life and the historical context of her time. One critical remark, however, may be permitted: With its solemn tone and its open complicity with Cousturier (who occasionally is simply referred to as "Lucy"), the contributions sometimes resemble a hagiography. But it is the declared aim of this book to give Cousturier her deserved place both in the history of literature and art. As Little complains, no square or street in her hometown bears her name, nor is there a monument. However, and this is at least partly his merit, there are plans to name a school after her. So in its own way, Roger Little's anthology has become an instructive, important, and highly readable monument in the form of a book.