Quelques précisions sur la publication de Batouala (1921) à la lumière de la Correspondance Maran-Gahisto (2021)

Abstract

The publication, in late 2021 by Présence Africaine, of the complete Correspondance Maran-Gahisto furnishes details about the 1921 publication of Batouala, véritable roman nègre, going beyond what was presented in my recent contribution on the « Genèses de Batouala et de sa préface ». More specifically, it stimulates commentaries or new questions about the following issues : 1) Insertion of Batouala's subtitle : by whom and when ? 2) Actual date of the novel’s publication ? 3) Negociations about the author’s cut on the sales of the novel and about the fate of its Preface after it obtained the Goncourt Prize ; 4) Epilog : who instigated Batouala’s new edition in 1938 ?

Keywords

• Batouala
• publication
• Manoel Gahisto
• Albin Michel
• novel
• preface