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Le Discours Proverbial Chez Ahmadou Kourouma

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Le Discours Proverbial Chez Ahmadou Kourouma Le discours proverbial chez Ahmadou Kourouma by Claude Tankwa Zesseu A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of French University of Toronto © Copyright by Claude Tankwa Zesseu 2011 Le discours proverbial chez Ahmadou Kourouma Claude Tankwa Zesseu Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of French University of Toronto 2011 Résumé Ce travail examine le discours proverbial dans les romans d’Ahmadou Kourouma. Il fait valoir que le discours proverbial de Kourouma traduit la vision cosmologique des personnages romanesques dans cinq domaines, à savoir la religion, la culture matérielle, les animaux, le temps et la femme. Contrairement aux études publiées au cours des quarante dernières années qui traitent de certains de ces domaines sans véritablement privilégier le proverbe comme objet d’analyse, ou qui l’analysent trop rapidement chez Kourouma en utilisant de très minces corpus ou une approche peu efficace et non contextuelle, ce travail, lui, déconstruit le proverbe et fait ressortir ses dimensions esthétiques, discursives et idéologiques les plus variées et les plus significatives. La thèse se sert des approches syncrétique, fonctionnelle et intertextuelle pour examiner les proverbes comme discours religieux. Dans le but d’explorer les proverbes portant sur la culture matérielle, l’étude adopte les concepts du symbolisme, de filiation, de territorialité ainsi que les notions de la hiérarchie des métaux et d’extra-textualité. Le travail aborde les proverbes animaliers en ayant recours aux concepts de métaphore, du symbolisme et du contractualisme. Quant à l’expression temporelle des proverbes, elle est approchée dans une perspective culturelle ii et spatio-temporelle alors que le rapport du proverbe au genre féminin est déterminé à partir d’une analyse culturelle et sociale de son statut. Cette approche d’une étude multidimensionnelle du proverbe permet ici de déterminer le caractère biculturel, bispirituel, pragmatique, opportuniste et utilitariste de la foi religieuse des personnages kouroumiens. Elle montre en outre que les objets de la culture matérielle sont porteurs de significations sociales, culturelles, littéraires et environnementales. Grâce à son cadre conceptuel élargi et diversifié, ce travail permet également de constater que les animaux possèdent des identités distinctives et remplissent des fonctions romanesque, spirituelle, sanitaire et alimentaire. La thèse met enfin en évidence le caractère pluraliste du temps existentiel, et établit que la condition de la femme est fortement influencée par des facteurs naturels et socioculturels. De ses résultats, l’étude tire la conclusion que le proverbe permet à Kourouma de proposer sa lecture du monde et sa théorie de l’écriture romanesque. iii Remerciements Le présent travail de recherche n’aurait pu aboutir sans le concours d’un certain nombre de personnes et institutions que je tiens ici à remercier. Je suis sincèrement et particulièrement reconnaissant au Professeur Alexie Tcheuyap de m’avoir permis de mener cette recherche sous sa direction. Son soutien, ses encouragements et ses conseils m’ont aidé à surmonter de nombreux défis liés à ma recherche. Aussi, je suis profondément reconnaissant à Suzanne Crosta, Doyenne de la Faculté des sciences humaines et professeure de français à l’Université McMaster, pour son appui indéfectible manifesté à mon endroit au cours de ces six dernières années. Non seulement la Professeure Crosta m’a initié à la recherche en littérature africaine, mais aussi elle m’a encouragé à poursuivre un diplôme terminal dans la discipline. Comme membre de mon comité de thèse, ses observations précises et rigoureuses m’ont aidé à améliorer mon projet. Mes sincères remerciements vont également au Professeur Emmanuel Nikiema qui, en dépit de son horaire professionnel très chargé, a gracieusement accepté de faire partie de mon comité de thèse. Ses lectures attentives et ses commentaires judicieux ont été riches d’enseignements. J’adresse aussi un grand merci chaleureux à mon ami de longue date Monsieur Pascal Nzodjou pour avoir accepté de lire mon manuscrit. Avec Pascal, j’ai eu des échanges très instructifs concernant la forme de mon travail. En tant que bénéficiaire du régime de bourses d’études supérieures de l’Ontario (BESO) et du régime de bourses de l’Université de Toronto et de son Département d’Études françaises, je tiens iv également à exprimer ma gratitude au Gouvernement de l’Ontario, à l’Université de Toronto et au Département d’Études françaises. Enfin, je suis infiniment redevable à mon épouse Marie et à mes enfants Beryl, Harris et Jesse pour la patience et la compréhension qu’ils ont manifestées à mon égard durant la longue et très difficile période de mes études doctorales. Je revendique l’entière responsabilité de la présente thèse. v Table des matières Résumé............................................................................................................................................ ii Remerciements............................................................................................................................... iv Table des matières.......................................................................................................................... vi Introduction générale ...................................................................................................................... 1 Chapitre 1...................................................................................................................................... 14 Le proverbe .................................................................................................................................. 14 1 Étude du proverbe : aperçu historique et théorique ................................................................. 14 2 Clarification terminologique ....................................................................................................19 3 Parémie et roman francophone subsaharien............................................................................. 23 4 Repérage des proverbes............................................................................................................ 25 4.1 Éléments textuels .............................................................................................................. 25 4.2 Éléments poétiques et phraséologiques ............................................................................ 28 4.3 Consultation des sources secondaires ................. ………………………………………..40 Chapitre 2...................................................................................................................................... 42 Proverbes et religion .................................................................................................................... 42 1 Islam et religion traditionnelle en Afrique : survol historique................................................. 46 2 Croyances plurielles et significations ...................................................................................... 49 3 Sacrifices ................................................................................................................................. 55 4 Être suprême............................................................................................................................. 61 vi 5 Stoïcisme, soumission et croyance au destin ........................................................................... 68 6 Proverbes et foi agissante ........................................................................................................ 74 7 Exploitation de la religion à des fins inavouées....................................................................... 78 Chapitre 3...................................................................................................................................... 85 Culture matérielle et discours proverbial...................................................................................... 85 1 Proverbes et vêtements............................................................................................................. 88 2 Objets à usage ménager............................................................................................................ 97 3 Objets de l’organologie ......................................................................................................... 103 4 Objets de défense et de guerre ............................................................................................... 110 5 Espaces construits .................................................................................................................. 113 6 Objets précieux....................................................................................................................... 119 7 Objet de facilitation des échanges économiques.................................................................... 123 8 Objets liés à l’environnement aquatique................................................................................ 125 Chapitre 4.................................................................................................................................... 130 Proverbes zoologiques et vision du monde................................................................................. 130 1 Proverbes et symbolique animalière .....................................................................................
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