Browsing by Author "Cornille, Jean-Louis"

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    Alain Mabanckou et la pigmentation de l'edition francaise
    (2016) De La Roche Souvestre, Marie Arielle; Cornille, Jean-Louis
    In 2006 for the first time in the history of French literature, five out of the seven most prestigious French literary prizes were attributed to foreign writers. To the signatories of a manifesto published a few months later, this meant that francophone writers no longer belonged to the margins of French literature. Indeed, a restructuring of the literary landscape was in order. They demanded that French and francophone literatures be merged into a single literary field which would be known as the world literature in French and within which authors would not be differentiated according to their nationality. Non-French writers would no longer be edged out into specialized collections, thus only reaching a very narrow and very specific readership. Today, few of the desired changes can be observed. The signatories' continued reliance on major Parisian publishing houses is a clear indication that France remains at the forefront and centre of French-language literature. A close look at the editorial journey of Alain Mabanckou, one of the manifesto's most fervent advocates, corroborates this statement. While he made a gradual progression towards Gallimard's illustrious Collection Blanche, he is still systematically portrayed above all as an African writer through the use of racialised paratextual elements. The deep-rooted hegemony of France cannot be toppled overnight. After situating Alain Mabanckou's position within the literary hierarchy thanks to an analysis of his editorial journey and an overview of his works' paratextual representation, this dissertation delves into the author's usage of fiction as a means of sensitising readers to the struggles of non-French writers. A three-tiered evolution can be observed throughout his career beginning with an unconditional admiration for France in his first novel Bleu-blanc-rouge (1998). He then adopted a more patriotic stance in African Psycho (2003a) by advocating creative authenticity before overtly criticising France's rigid literary and language conventions in Verre Cassé (2005). Interestingly, he also praised the United States' growing role in facilitating the creative process for French-language writers - an interesting lead for future research.
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    Analyse thematique de : Ngemena de Paul Lomami Tchibamba
    (2003) Mukenge, Arthur Ngoie; Cornille, Jean-Louis
    Several reasons motivated me to choose the subject: THEMATICS ANALYSIS OF NGEMENA. Ngemena is a novel by Paul Lomami Tchibamba, published at first in 1960. However, in comparing all the literatures of the time, Ngemena is one of the books of the 1960, which was awaiting a place in the history of literature. It does not hide its intentions to seek a place in francophone literature of liberation struggle. It also claims to question the mission of civilization. The author is trying to relate events that have taken place in the Africa continent, particularly in Congo (DRC). He gives a concise and precise picture to show what happened from 1950 to 1960 under Belgian rule. This study consists of an analysis of the themes present in the book of Paul Lomami Tchibamba: Ngemena. This analysis allows us to assess and understand some social and political problems during the colonialist occupation in Congo (DRC). The novel relates the story of Paulo. In the boat in which he travels, there were separated compartments according to race, meaning that, Black and White people were allocated compartments that were far from each other. In some instances segregation would seem to be circumvented by assimilation that is when a Black person changes his/her behavior and imitates White behavior. But Tchibamba shows that by loosing his/her roots, this Black person becomes a real slave. During the same period, large number of Western missionaries arrived on the African continent. It was said that this period heralded the birth of Christian faith. The Black people adopted Christian principles, and rejected their culture and traditions. In this way, they found it easier to accept the presence of White people. This invariably led to their dissociation from their roots. There was also the Exploitation of a Black by a Black: This form of exploitation took place in families where some members adopted the White culture and started treating their fellow Black brothers and sisters as inferior to them. These people become more dangerous to their Black folks. The story told by Paul Lomami T. gives a full picture of things as they were and can be analyzed follows: I will explore the history of colonialism by reading relevant literatures; I will attempt to explore all the themes of the novel in order to come to come to an understand of the ideas of the author. My aim is not to advance a comprehensive condemnation of colonization, nor to be apologetic about it. The objective is: reading, understanding, interpreting, and finally comparing the situation as it was before and after colonization.
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    Hybridité, animalité et métissage : la littérature francophone contemporaine entre parasitisme et devenir-autre
    (2015) Marie, Annabelle Corinne; Cornille, Jean-Louis
    Postcolonial Francophone literature, as it has evolved since the independence movements in the French colonies (mainly in Africa and in the Caribbean islands), has known two major moments in the 20th century, where it distanced itself from metropolitan French Literature: in the forties, fifties and sixties, with the movement of the « négritude » and more recently, in the nineties, with the rise of "créolité"- which will lead to the actual current of "Littérature-monde" (2005), and corresponds to the era that will be investigated here. It would be naïve to think that this desire for literary independence could have been fulfilled entirely, while expressed in the language of the "oppressor". In spite of its claims to the contrary, this postcolonial francophone literature remains to this day haunted by its French model. To a certain degree, it is still very much dependent as can be seen from its fixation with Paris as the only "centre" of culture and the frequency of themes such as social parasitism and hospitality. But of course, Francophone literature cannot be reduced to such a simplistic model. Its relationship to French Literature can't be reduced to a purely mimetic one. In spite of (or maybe thanks to) its heavy borrowing from the French canon, it has succeeded in creating a new space of reciprocal exchanges and constant metamorphosis. It is this space that H. Bhabha called "third space", defined by hybridity and "métissage" - a paradoxical way of coping with the double inheritance of the same and the other. In opposition to the static behaviour in which the parasite engages when imitating, one has to conceive, according to G. Deleuze and F. Guattari, a heterogeneous relationship characterized by movement and fluctuation: a "becoming" rather than a "being". It is this notion of constantly changing identities that we will analyze in reaction to parasitism, which remains based on imitation: a need for metamorphosis best expressed in "animalisation" and the loss of identity it produces. In order to test this hypothesis, we will analyze a series of works of fiction where this theme of animalisation is most visible (produced over the past 15 years in Postcolonial Francophone literature). Some of the novels in our corpus are the following: Mémoires d'un porc-épic, by Mabanckou (from Congo); Moi, l'interdite, by Ananda Devi (from Mauritius), Temps de chien by P. Nganang (from Cameroun) and Un Chien mort après lui by Jean Rolin (France). We hope that the relative homogeneity of our findings will allow us to formulate new insights in the way Francophone literature deals with those ever returning questions of identity and otherness.
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    La fable comme dixième 'forme simple' : une étude comparative du "Crépuscule des loups" de Jean Dutourd avec les "Fables" correspondantes de Jean de La Fontaine
    (2007) Giraud, Thérèse Lise Anita; Cornille, Jean-Louis; Sienaert, E
    The famous fables of La Fontaine date back to the 17th century and have been studied in French schools in many countries throughout the world. They are also the literary source for the "Crepuscule des 10 ups", a collection of satires by Jean Dutourd. I analyzed 12 of these satires, along with the 12 corresponding fables, to establish the procedure for the transformation of the "Fables" and to examine the fmal result. I based myself on Jolles' theory of Simple Forms tackled in Part I. These are ancient literary forms which had not been previously explored. Part 2 examined the socio-political milieu of Jean Dutourd (with Jean de La Fontaine's curriculum vitae relegated to the Appendices section).In the following chapters I aimed to reveal the factors which influenced their work the most. Jolles explains that the history of the form is important for the study of certain forms, especially with regards to the social milieu. The first problem which this thesis explores is, what has happened to the form of the fable. - Could the fable survive the 20th century?- If so, with what transformations? These are the type of questions which Jolles would have posed, because, the Simple Forms date back to antiquity and stem from the anthropological needs of man, fulfilling certain functions. In Part Three, I analyzed the evolved forms of the first degree (the fables of La Fontaine) with respect to the evolved forms of the second degree (each of the 12 corresponding satires). I considered the human aspects, similarities and additions, as well as Dutourd's reversal of situations, where he questions the morals contained in the fables. I also make a comparison between Louis XIV's socio political world, (the milieu of La Fontaine), to that of the De Gaulle era. The role of the associative memory notably that of the various events in their time-span, is of prime importance. It is via the association and the memories of the past that we can reconstruct the sociopolitical milieu which constitute the base of the fables. To conclude, the main aim of the satires is to paint the good, old fables in the hues of the 20th century, rather like one would renovate the fayade of some decrepit construction. Let it suffice to quote the following line taken from the outside back cover of "Le crepuscule des loups": "The fabulist of to-day can perhaps perceive some details which were invisible during the time of Louis XIV"I . The thesis then finally comments on the spirit of 20th century man- has he changed all that much since the 17th century?
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    Marcel Schwob, conteur de l'imaginaire
    (2002) De Meyer, Bernard; Cornille, Jean-Louis
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    The genesis of poetic prose in the works of Louis-Ferdinand Celine through the transgressive and maieutic agency of the figure of the Double
    (2008) Collett, Anne Elizabeth; Cornille, Jean-Louis
    This study examines Louis-Ferdinand Celine's quest for the actualization of his creative aesthetic through the transgressive and maieutic agency of the figure of the Double manifest in his works. In that capacity, we examine the Double's role as a vehicle for the production of the author's poetic prose. To this end, we interrogate the role of the Double as a coping mechanism for the author's fractured psyche caused by the trauma of his war experiences and a concomitant horror Celine perceived as extant in man's inhumanity to man, concealed by a veneer of 'civilised' behaviour. Because the figure of the Double is manifest in Celine's works in two distinct capacities, both as a coping mechanism and in providing the impetus for the production of his poetic prose, we have divided this study into two sections comprising Transgressors and Midwives. The first analyses those elements in Celine's aesthetic which were transgressive, iconoclastic, providing the initial impulse for creative production. These influences include war and the author's concept of death; father figures who exerted an influence on both the medical and literary careers of the author; Celine's transgressive use of idiolect, and the presence in the author's work of Dionysian and Apollinian elements as a metaphor for creative conflict. The second section examines those aspects of the Double which are maieutic in the Socratic sense in that they deliver the outcome of dialectic argument present in the fundamental conflictual (and creative) opposition or rivalry between Doubles as a product of that dissent, in the form of poetic prose. Those elements which act as 'Midwives' in this context include the act of writing per seas a catalyst for the resolution of Celine's fragmented psyche; ambiguity and the grotesque in subterranean spaces as a site ofregeneration and finally, Shakespeare's works as an intertextual touchstone and seat of linguistic and poetic inspiration. If the word 'maieutic' relates to the Socratic method or dialectic of eliciting knowledge by a series of questions and answers, we posit that Celine's figurative use of a maieutic method for eliciting truth or authenticity in his work is evidenced in the high level of poetic prose as its outcome. It is also extant in the effect that the author's prose has on the reader in eliciting an active response in the form of a participatory reading of Celine's works by appealing directly to the reader's emotions as well as, in a best-case scenario, prompting the reader to re-write Celine's works. An observation of the trajectory of the figure of the Double throughout Celine's oeuvre, from his first manifestation in the person of the author's avowed double Bardamu 1 in tandem with the protagonist's Double Robinson in Voyage au bout de la nuit, t~ough the gradual decline of his avatars in successive novels, culminating in his final elimination in Celine's last work Rigodon, revealed a significant pattern in terms of a literary solution to a personal issue. We discovered a parallel between the novels in which the highest degree of poetic prose was attained and the presence of those figures of the Double who were most transgressive: Mille-Pattes in Guignol 's Band and Jules in F eerie pour une autre fois. We also noted that a relative diminution in the level of poetic prose in the novels of the trilogy coincided with a decline and eventual demise of the figure of the Double. This led us to conclude that the figure of the Double was simply a literary device for the actualization of the author's project: the resolution of Celine's internal conflict and his reliance on the Double as a seat of both refuge and inspiration, and a concomitant manifestation of an authentic voice represented in his poetic prose. However, we emphasise that the disappearance of the figure of the Double in Celine's works does not imply an abolition of that figure, but rather an assimilation by the protagonist of all those elements which constituted his 'Otherness'. This factor is inherent in the attainment of a state of immanence, both by Celine and the protagonists in his novels.
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    Tracing memory : representation and the Auschwitz experience in Charlotte Delbo's Auschwitz et après
    (1997) Grunebaum-Ralph, Heidi Peta; Wolfswinkel, Rolf; Cornille, Jean-Louis
    This study aims to examine the ways in which memory is represented in Auschwitz survivor, Charlotte Delbo's literary trilogy, Auschwitz et Apres, (Auschwitz and After) (1970a;1970b;1971). Its examination of memory is premised on the understanding of survivor narrative as testimonial narrative and testimony as the telling of the memory of historical events which strain or exceed conventional frameworks of representation. As such, the aim of this study is to demonstrate the way that representations of memory of a limit-experience problematise the certainty of its own testimonial transmission. By attempting to theorise the dynamics of narrating personal memory and then by analysing key extracts in each volume of the trilogy, this examination attempts to demonstrate how the event of the Holocaust, the difficulty of being a survivor and an unwilling reception of the survivor's story are collectively implicated in the way that memory contests its own representation. By examining the discontinuities of memory, this study intends to show how, in very different ways, the silences and ruptures of memory which are produced in these readings are a remembering of a different form. Bibliography: pages 138-150.