The Critical Reaction to First-generation Francophone Black-African Writers

Abstract

For decades, the history of Francophone Black African literature has regarded the Negritude movement as the foundational moment of the new literature. This has meant both neglecting pre-WWII authors and ignoring the socio-historical and institutional circumstances that allowed them access to publishing. In this paper we reflect on the marginalisation of this production in literary history, through the analysis of two major critical discourses that have taken it as an object: on the one hand, contemporary texts on colonial literature, and on the other hand post-independence academic criticism on Black-African literature. Using the specific cases of Bakary Diallo and Félix Couchoro, we will illustrate the causes and mechanisms of the marginalisation to which these early writers have been subjected.