Alain Mabanckou largely contributes to the promotion and influence of French-speaking literature through his activity as a teacher in the United States, as a novelist, as a poet, as an essayist, as a literary advisor even for fiction to editions African Presence in Paris. Recently rewarded by the French Academy with the Henri Gal Grand Prize for Literature, prize from the Institut de France, for his body of work, Alain Mabanckou seems to be more than ever in the limelight. Especially since his last try The sob of the black man has been the subject of many controversies.
But let's get to the heart of the matter! Under a title borrowed from the philosopher Pascal Bruckner[1]and misappropriated, this new essay highlights the tendency which pushes certain Africans to explain the misfortunes of the black continent via the prism of the meeting with Europe and to cry over their fate. From the start, the letter to his son announces the tone: My dear child, the worst intolerance is that which comes from beings who are like you, those who have the same skin color as you. Fanaticism finds its ground of experience firstly between men of the same origin, before spreading little by little over other "races" with a virulence fueled by the spirit of revenge (p.16) .This passage probably makes one think immediately of the letter of James Baldwin to his nephew in his famous essay Next time, the fire. The conclusion of this letter can be summed up in this sentence: “I sent you this missive as an alarm bell so that you do not fall into this trap. You were born here, your destiny is here, and you must not lose sight of it. Ask yourself what you bring to this country without expecting any reward from it. (p. 20)
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The Sob of the Black Man
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Release Date | 2017-06-15T00:00:01Z |
Language | Français |
Number Of Pages | 144 |
Publication Date | 2017-06-15T00:00:01Z |