REPRESENTATIONS OF AFRICAN IDENTITY IN NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURY FRANCOPHONE LITERATURE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Nancy E. Wardle, M.A., B.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2007 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Eugene Holland, Advisor Professor Danielle Marx-Scouras __________________________________ Advisor Professor John Conteh-Morgan Graduate Program in French and Italian ABSTRACT A study of francophone literature, written by French and by Africans, about Africa’s people and territory reveals distinct characteristics regarding literary representations about the Other (who are regarded as not sharing in the author’s identity) and the Self (who are regarded as sharing in the author’s identity). The earliest novels about Africa in the French language were authored by French men, and the majority of these works are united by the depiction of Africa and its people as Other to the author’s European identity and associated values. These representations were instrumental in defining the identity of the African as essentially separate and different from the norm, and their basic concepts about the Other were to remain a prominent influence in the collective imagination of the West for centuries afterward. African literary responses to these assertions in the early to mid twentieth century tended to maintain this division between Africa and Europe but reversed the dichotomies, as African authors assigned positive status to all that was African and denounced the Western civilization that had Othered them. New representational techniques were adopted to reflect Africans as subject of their own discourse and to further distinguish their use of the French language, which had been adopted from the former colonizer. Two nineteenth century French novels that exhibit some of the more common attributes in French literature of the era about Africa are analyzed, Pierre Loti’s Le ii Roman d’un spahi (1881) and Eugène Fromentin’s Une année dans le Sahel (1859). Both authors depict Africa as Other to France, but to varying degrees. In Le Roman d’un spahi, France has virtually nothing in common with subsaharan Africa, which is described as a sort of hell on earth for the young French protagonist who is far from home and fears his strange surroundings. The African characters are largely stereotypical, black of skin and soul. North Africa in Une année dans le Sahel, while not depicted in a negative light, is nonetheless another opposite to France. Fromentin by contrast aims to inform his readers of the beautiful land that serves as an inspiration to his paintings; and in attempting to make it seem familiar to a French audience, the lack of similarity between “them” and “us” is communicated. The novel distinguishes itself within the genre of travel literature through the presentation of multidimensional African characters and the factual descriptions of local culture. In the two twentieth century francophone novels that I have selected, Mariama Bâ’s Une si longue lettre (1979) and Assia Djebar’s L’amour, la fantasia (1985), the female authors employ the narrative form as a tool for asserting themselves as subjects of their own discourse. Ramatoulaye, the Senegalese narrator of Une si longue lettre, declares her ability to stand on her own two feet as an individual outside the bonds of the couple relationship after her husband’s death. L’amour, la fantasia contains the accounts of a number of Algerian women who have resisted classification as an object as well as a new history of Algeria in which her countrymen and women play an active role. The manner in which Bâ and Djebar have composed their novels tends to be as equally subversive as their message, as they seek to decenter the standard grammatical and ideological constructs present in the Western novel. iii Dedicated to my parents, Edward and Barbara Wardle, and to my sisters iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This process has been an extremely lengthy one, consuming nearly the past quarter of my life. As a result, there are many people I must thank for their encouragement and patience, for pushing me to continue writing, and for not giving up on me. I am especially indebted to my dissertation advisor, Dr. Eugene Holland, for his continued support, advice, and feedback over the years, and for his thorough corrections of my drafts. The construction of this dissertation would not have been nearly as polished without his guidance. I am also grateful to the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. John Conteh-Morgan and Dr. Danielle Marx-Scouras, for their support and guidance. I wish to thank other members of the Department of French and Italian at The Ohio State University for the knowledge that I have gained from them, including professors Jean-François Fourny, Mihaela Marin, Judith Mayne, Dennis Minahen, and Karlis Racevskis. This dissertation would not have been possible without their inspiration. My special recognition to Dr. Diane W. Birckbichler, department chair, for believing in me. Finally, I would like to thank my many colleagues in the Department of French and Italian for the words of encouragement that they have provided me over the years. v VITA November 12, 1969........................................Born - Youngstown, Ohio June 1993 .......................................................B.A., French, Youngstown State University B.A., History, Youngstown State University 1993-1994 ......................................................Graduate Teaching Associate Department of Modern Language Studies Kent State University 1994-1995 ......................................................L’École de Traduction et d’Interprétation L’Université de Genève Geneva, Switzerland May 1996 .......................................................M.A., French Kent State University 1996-1997 ......................................................Adjunct Instructor, French Kent State University, Trumbull 1998-2004 ......................................................Graduate Teaching Associate Department of French and Italian The Ohio State University 2004-2006 ......................................................Adjunct Instructor, French Ohio Dominican University 2006-present...................................................Adjunct Instructor, Cultural Studies Ohio Dominican University FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: French and Italian vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract..................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication................................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................v Vita........................................................................................................................................... vi Chapters: Introduction................................................................................................................................1 Representations of the Orient in French literature from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries ...................................................................................................................................18 The Orient in French literature: The Middle Ages .........................................................19 Characteristics of the binary signifying system..............................................................23 Myth................................................................................................................................28 Stereotyping ....................................................................................................................31 Identity constituted as difference....................................................................................32 Exoticism ........................................................................................................................35 The Orient in French literature: The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries ...................36 Montesquieu's Les lettres persanes.................................................................................43 Defining African identity during the twentieth century...........................................................53 Early efforts ....................................................................................................................54 René Maran and Batouala...............................................................................................55 A new focus on Africa ....................................................................................................59 A post-colonial African identity: Négritude ...................................................................62 Critical remarks on Négritude.........................................................................................68 Nationalism and binary representations..........................................................................71 Diversity in African identity: Responses ........................................................................73 Pierre Loti’s Le Roman d’un spahi: African stereotypes rooted in European identity............82 Praise and fame of the author’s work .............................................................................83