Représentations de la transgression dans les littératures d'Afrique subsaharienne

Abstract

Transgression is the central phenomenon in any literature. But, in African literature, writers actually describe two kinds of transgression. On the one hand, transgression of taboos, uses and laws inside the pre-colonial societies, as we can observe, for instance, in Birago Diop’s tale Petit-mari or in Chinua Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. On the other hand, transgression of laws or taboos instituted by the coloniser as in Mongo Beti or Ferdinand Oyono’s novels. However, it is sometimes difficult to perceive the transgression inside colonial societybecause African women or men do not always fight colonial laws and uses directly. This aspect especially appears when a writer shows a character trying to appropriate the coloniser’s knowledge. We observe such a fact in autobiographic texts, such as Camara Laye’s L’enfant noir, Peter Abraham’s Tell freedom, and Ezechiel Mphahlele’s Down Second Avenue. In conclusion, we wonder whether African literature describes a specific form of transgression or if this general process can be found in any literature.

Keywords

• African literature
• autobiography
• colonial culture
• colonial law
• prohibition
• transgression