Myth and Mythmaking in Postcolonial Francophone African
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JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 MYTH AND MYTHMAKING IN POSTCOLONIAL FRANCOPHONE AFRICAN LITERATURE Dr.Chinmoypritam Muduli, Assistant Professor, Department of English and Other Foreign Languages, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Ramapuram Campus, Chennai. Abstract Although rooted in the tradition of every society and its culture, folk literature has undergone a transformation over time. It continuously adapts to different contexts to highlight the human experience, feeling, attitude, and knowledge. And it is observed in postcolonial Francophone literature that African writers rely heavily on a large number of elements of oral tradition (such as myths) not only to reformulate the cultural policy of the African postcolonial world, but also to create an epistemic condition in the construction of identity and history denied to these people by the colonizers. This Paper attempts to shed some light on the issue of myth and mythmaking and their treatment as a narrative element, from a postcolonial standpoint, in the novels by African, particularly in reference to Werewere Liking (Cameroon), Joseph Mwuantuali (Congo), Veronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast), and Gisele Halimi (Tunisia). It is this very relationship between the ‘old’ (African) oral tradition and the ‘new’ (African) writings in the French language that I wish to examine in order to see how these authors attempt to reassert and restore African reality, self-autonomy, and identity; that, beyond the problems of marginalization of the African in the story, their novels attempt, above all, a fictional reconstruction of “the social, political and ideological history and experience” of the African society as a whole. Keywords: myth, mythmaking, postcolonialism, identity, history, gender. Folk literature, in particular myth, has always been a story, “a great source of inspiration” (Eapen ii), for writers, and “a support system for the various happenings in life” (Eapen 6) in African cultures. Though rooted in the tradition of every society and its culture, the use of myth has undergone a transformation over time. They are continuously adapted to the contemporary context to highlight Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 765 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 the human experience, feeling, attitude, and knowledge. And it is observed in postcolonial Francophone literature that African writers rely heavily on such myths not only to reformulate the cultural policy of the African postcolonial world, but also to create an epistemic condition in the construction of identity and history denied to these people by the colonizers.1 This Paper attempts to shed some light on the issue of myth and mythmaking as narrative element, from a postcolonial standpoint, in six African novels in French: Orphée-Dafric by Werewere Liking (Cameroon); L’Impair de la Nation by Joseph Mwuantuali (Congo); Reine Pokou by Veronique Tadjo (Ivory Coast); and La Kahina by Gisele Halimi (Tunisia). It is this very relationship between the ‘old' (African) oral tradition and the ‘new' (African) writings in the French language that I wish to examine in order to see how these authors attempt to reassert and restore African reality, self-autonomy, and identity; that, beyond the problems of marginalization of the African in the story, their novels attempt, above all, a fictional reconstruction of “the social, political and ideological history and experience” (Gadjigo 37) of the African society as a whole. Discussion On Myth And Myth-Making Myths are traditional or legendary stories, usually concerning gods and heroes, with or without a determinate basis of fact or a natural explanation, that explain the nature of the universe and the relationship human beings entertain with it. These narratives express the practise, rite, institution and values of a particular society (Cucca 166). Myth making or mythopoeia, on the other hand, is an “act of making (creating) mythologies. This form of narrative genre aims to integrate traditional mythological themes and archetypes in order to add credibility and depth to fictional works and movies” (“Mythopoeia”). “Writers select a myth – traditional, religious or imaginatively created – and exploit the metaphorical resources of the whole or part of the myth to create a story which is relevant to the modern age...The objective of mythopoesis is to use the old myth to address a particular concern of society and thus make the old 1 In his books The Invention of Africa (1988) and The Idea of Africa (1994), V. Y. Mudimbe argues that, since the Hellenistic age, Africa has "been represented in Western scholarships by ‘fantasies' and ‘constructs'" (1994: xv). Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 766 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 myth relevant to the contemporary age” (Aning 47). Clearly, “we humans need myth” (Howe). However, myth in the contemporary sense can be understood in several ways. As Gregory Schrempp rightly points out: "Myth" refers to colorful stories that tell about the origins of humans and the cosmos. Attitudes towards myth vary greatly. Some regard it as a source of spiritual growth, while others see only falsehood. Some see in myth the distinct character of particular cultures, while others see universal patterns. Some regard myth as "contemporary" and "alive", while others think of it as "ancient" and/or "dead" (Magoulick). It is for this very reason that we are interested in myths and mythmaking, and attempt to bring to the light of day. In this postmodern world, myths take on a whole new form and continue to intrigue us for their symbolic, metaphoric and narrative values. Elsewhere, Martha Weigle explains that myths are needed in times of identity crisis: “Significant psychic transformation – whether an important decision, critical insight, creative task, schizophrenic break, or change in consciousness – is heralded and expressed by cosmogonic myths and motifs in dreams and various verbal and visual creations. Only apparent incompatibility needs myth to resolve or make sense of social dilemmas”(10). Thus, “Culture heroes, whether human or animal, female or male, bring or bring about valuable objects, teachings and natural changes which make possible human society and survival” (Weigle 53). According to Carolyne Larrington, “myth’s definition has to stretch. Myth is, rather, a continnum, a collection ‘of a web of meanings’...The power of the story to shape the characters of its listeners, and the power of the listeners to reshape the story in the retelling, is at the hub of it.” Thus, in this study, African writers are the characters and the re-tellers, and the myths they examine are symbolic, archetypal and mnemonic in nature (97). Their novels, in this case, are supreme mediums of myth and “versions of myth-making” Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 767 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 (MacConnell 6), given that they activate archetypes, which allow the audience to relate and identify with the character and the situation, both socially and culturally. In doing this, these novels are able to create an epistemic condition in the construction and reaffirmation of identities, history and cultural values to their audience. Hence, discussing about myths and novels has much to do with discussing about ourselves and the world around us; and how we represent and position ourselves within this view (Cucca 167-68). Their transformation, construction and manifestation in contemporary literary works have a lot to do with questions of history, ethnicity, cultural identity, and nationality. In this context, and solely within the confines of this work, to be interested in representations of narratives and images of the past is to be interested about the notion of Africanness and how it is constructed and perceived from a contemporary standpoint (Higham 3-4). In the novels selected, we shall see how the African writer tries to recover and bring in mythological systems of thought and narratives to the fore by the means of foreign languages to reconstruct identity in order to derive from such an image his or her own history and a source of reference. But this identity is not a point back in time, but a process of repositioning and being repositioned in the present through the memory of the past. Myth as Symbol: the Myth of Orpheus and Eurydice Forming an important part of this literary assertion are Werewere Liking’s Orphée-Dafric (1981) and Joseph Mwuantuali’s L’Impair de la Nation (2007). Both these novels use myth as a symbol, turning to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with the aim not only to discover and preserve the African culture and politics, but also to find answers to current problems particularly concerning the community and the individual. In Orphée-Dafric, Liking weaves the greco-roman myth into a modern tale of quest and adventure for wisdom and rebirth. Interestingly, the myth or quest of Orpheus occurs frequently in cultures of numerous African societies, and here it takes a symbolic meaning, that is Orpheus’ descent into hell is a necessary one, according to the author, so that Africa can lift itself out of the abysmal state. Moreover, in making reference to rites and customs of Volume XIII Issue III MARCH 2020 Page No: 768 JAC : A Journal Of Composition Theory ISSN : 0731-6755 the Bassa people, Liking merges the universal myth into a local one, thereby ‘tropicalising’ the ancient classic myth. For example, the author reserves the Greek name of “Orpheus” for the male protagonist, while also keeping the Bassa name of “Nyango” for the female counterpart. It is also interesting to note that the story takes the form of a double narration - a story within a story. Orphee is witness to the death of his wife Nyango during a ride on a kayak, only to find out that it was all a dream during his wedding night.