The Black Renaissance in Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures

This work explores the limits and prospects of Afro-Caribbean Francophone writers in reshaping or producing action-oriented literature. It shows how Francophone literatures have followed a hegemonic discourse that leaves little room for thinking outside of traditional cultural and ideological conventions.
Part One explores the origins of Afro-Caribbean Francophone literature and what the author terms “griotism”—a shared heritage of awareness of biological differences, a sense of the black hero as black messiah and black people as chosen, and the promise of a common racial history.
Part Two discusses the formidable grip of griotism on Fanon, Mudimbé, the champions of Creolity (Bernabé, Chamoiseau, and Confiant), and well-read African women writers (Aminata Sow Fall, and Mariama Bâ).
Part Three seeks to subvert the discourse of griotism in order to propose a new autonomy for Francophone African writers.

K. Martial Frindéthié is a professor of Francophone studies at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. An award winning author, his research interests include literature and film and the intersection of literature and political-ideological imagination.

K. Martial Frindéthié
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 215
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3663-7
eISBN: 978-0-7864-9208-4
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1
Introduction: Post-Negritude and Literary Theory      3

1. The Quest for Originality      17
2. Paradigm of the Griot      38
3. Negritude of Incompossibility and Negritude of Compossibility      58
4. The Griot, His Word, His Body      64
5. Fanon’s Will to Unity      77
6. Reiterating Griotism      92
7. Black Women Writers’ Dilemma with Theory      108
8. New Nomadologies      125
9. The African Critic as a Griironist      161

Conclusion      178
Notes      183
Bibliography      195
Index      205

Choice Outstanding Academic Title
“provocative…writing style is powerful, seductive, and convincing. Each chapter stands alone but all coalesce into an exacting thesis. This book is replete with good notes and an excellent bibliography…highly recommended”—Choice.