The Literary Representation Of History - 1982 Words

‘Le drame de l’Afrique, c’est que l’homme africain n’est pas assez entrà © dans l’histoire.’ (SARKOZY). Discuss the literary representation of history in relation to this controversial statement. Considered as ‘la parole officielle franà §aise la plus raciste depuis longtemps’, Nicholas Sarkozy’s 2007 speech in Dakar elicited widespread disapproval (Heams, 2007). In highlighting a binary opposition between France and Africa; the progressive and the stagnant, Sarkozy reinforced a euro-centric idea of progress whilst criticising the inadequate insertion of ‘l’homme africain’ into history (Sarkozy, 2007). In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Europeans similarly believed that Africa lacked a collective historical consciousness†¦show more content†¦Whilst the main body of the text serves to represent the history of the Baoulà © people and their leader, Queen Pokou; in constantly questioning and subverting the narrative, Tadjo constructs alternative endings to the well-known legend of the Ivory Coast (Ligaga, 2011: 488). One chapter that best exemplifies the dual meaning of ‘histoire’ is ‘La Trav ersà ©e de l’Atlantique’, where Tadjo rewrites the original legend in the context of the transatlantic slave trade. Here, the use of language is emotive, enabling Tadjo to stress the cruelty of the trade. For example, the use of metonymy when describing the captives on their passage is unsettling (Cazenave and Cà ©là ©rità ©, 2011: 75-76). ‘Corps contre corps, ballottà ©s par les vagues’ (Tadjo, 2005: 58). This dehumanises the slaves and parallels their worth with that of commodities, as subalterns, ‘corps’. Similarly, the repetition of ‘corps’, elicits a disturbing image of slaves, both alive and dead, in close proximity in the hold. In grounding this version of the narrative in fact, Tadjo intensifies the emotional impact on the reader. We thus sympathise with the victims on both a factual and fictional level. The use of three successive nouns, ‘ils avaient perdu leur visage, leur nom, leur lendemains’, enables Tadjo to further illustrate the process of dehumanisation during the journey across the Atlantic (Tadjo, 2005: 59). They