Écritures africaines de l'exil parisien
Citation:
Aedín Ní Loingsigh, 'Écritures africaines de l'exil parisien', [thesis], Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Department of French, 2001, pp 223Abstract:
This thesis is an analysis of the representation of Parisian exile in seven African novels in
French. The novels are studied in chronological order, thus illustrating the social and
psychological evolution of the theme of exile in African literature in French from the colonial era
to the contemporary post-colonial context. The introduction to the thesis illustrates how the
colonial history of French-speaking Africa requires a reappraisal of the ‘universal’ meaning of
exile. This, in turn, leads to an analysis of critical approaches to the theme of exile in the
colonial and post-colonial contexts. In the first two chapters, which study two novels written
during the colonial era, the structures of colonial society are shown to be the African writer’s
first experience of exile. Rather than representing an escape from cultural and historical
isolation, the journey to Paris is ultimately seen to be a return to this initial exile. In the French
capital, racial and sexual identity become markers of the African’s threatening difference, and
ensure that the barriers to cultural integration remain intact. Chapter three analyses an important
turning point in African literary representations of exile. The novel studied dates from the
beginning of North-African decolonisation, and shows how the very act of writing in French
becomes a reflection, and an extension, of the geographical and cultural isolation of Parisian
exile. The intellectual alienation of the African writer is also contrasted with the dehumanising
reality of the African immigrant worker, thus highlighting the importance of class in the study of
exile. Chapters four and five explore post-colonial African writers deepening preoccupation
with the ambiguous relationship between writing and exile, and with the conflict between
individual and collective exile. The final chapter also analyses such questions. However, the
African feminist perspective of the author studied highlights the ways in which the African
writer’s approach to Parisian exile continues to evolve. Exile remains a delicate balance between
debilitating isolation and creative potential, but it is this very ambiguity of exile which opens
new possibilities for the African writer to define him/herself.
Author: Ní Loingsigh, Aedín
Advisor:
Little, RogerQualification name:
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)Publisher:
Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland). Department of FrenchNote:
TARA (Trinity’s Access to Research Archive) has a robust takedown policy. Please contact us if you have any concerns: rssadmin@tcd.iePrint thesis water damaged as a result of the Berkeley Library Podium flood 25/10/2011
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Full text availableKeywords:
French, Ph.D., Ph.D. Trinity College DublinMetadata
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