Migrant Novelists Who Have Addressed the Theme of Irregular Migration Between Senegal and France in Their Literature
Rosia Beer GESTURING TO AN EMPTY THEATRE? Author, Text and Audience in the Fiction of Fatou Diome and Aïssatou Diamanka‐Besland Fatou Diome and Aïssatou Diamanka‐Besland are Senegalese women migrant novelists who have addressed the theme of irregular migration between Senegal and France in their literature. The authors, who live in France, write within the context of increased irregular migration and its associated dangers. They also write during a time of increased, and often hyperbolic, public and official discourses surrounding the extent of irregular migration. The authors’ treatment of the theme of migration raises questions concerning the relationship between the Senegalese novelist, her text and her audience. It also raises questions regarding the unique and complex positioning of the migrant writer. RELIEF 5 (1), 2011 – ISSN: 1873-5045. P44-61 http://www.revue-relief.org URN:NBN:NL:UI:10-1-101688 Igitur publishing © The author keeps the copyright of this article Fatou Diome’s novel Le Ventre de l’Atlantique (2003) became a bestseller in France and was published in English in 2006 as The Belly of the Atlantic. The novel is the story of Salie, a legal Senegalese migrant living in Paris, and her brother Madické, who lives in Niodior, Senegal. Salie attempts to discourage Madické from migrating and is eventually successful. Madické, in hoping to migrate, symbolises a trend among the Senegalese youth. Diome thus uses Salie as a construct to discourage would‐be irregular migrants from leaving Senegal. Aïssatou Diamanka‐Besland’s Patera (2009) is the sequel to her 2007 novel Le Pagne Léger. Her first novel addresses the constraints facing women in Senegal, whereas her second focuses on irregular migration.
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