Literature is one of the many methods humans use to communicate, interpret, and understand the surroundings that make up an individual identity. I firmly believe that literature is one of the things that AI can never truly replace; when a human writes something, it is truly powerful when feelings, thoughts, and stories are expressed in a person’s unique language.
When speaking of literature, it is almost unavoidable to not study literature without going and reading through French literature; from Dumas, Hugo, and Voltaire, there are countless great French authors that left a mark on history with their creative works or essays. However, the francophone authors and poets who do not originate from France but speak French following the French colonization of the territory are often less recognized. In this blog post, I would like to introduce one of these francophone writers, Yambo Ouologuem from Mali, a country in Western Africa.
Yambo Ouologuem
Yambo Ouologuem was a Malian author who was an only son in an aristocratic family. He is multilingual, having learned several African languages, with fluency in French, English, and Spanish. After studying sociology, philosophy, and English at Lycée Henry IV, he taught from 1964 to 1966 while studying for a doctorate in sociology at the École normale supérieure in Paris.
His most major work was Le Devoir de violence (1968) which was met with critical acclaim and won the Prix Renaudot, the first case in which an African writer won the prestigious award. While it has been grown to be the center of controversy due to academic plagiarism, it is undeniable that Le Devoir de violence held a significant role in African history, being a pillar of post-colonial African literature.
A Mon Mari
The following is a translated passage from the poem from Michael Tekhen Strode’s blog post, “On Negritude & the Afro-Diasporic Identity.” I encourage those interested in more poems about Afro-diasporic identity to further explore his post.
Once your name was Bimbircokak
And everything was fine.
Then you became Victor-Emile-Louis-Henri-Joseph
And bought a dinner set.[…]
We’re modern now, you say.
The tropic sun is hot, hot, hot!
But your tie
never leaves your neck
it nearly strangles.You frown
when I mention it,
never mind, I’ll say no more.[…]
But can’t you see
Bimbircokak
-because of you-
once I was underdeveloped
now I’m undernourished, too!– “A Mon Mari”
In Ouologuem’s poem “A Mon Mari,” Ouologuem writes from the perspective of an African woman struggling with her own cultural identity being repressed and her husband’s insistence to become more “modernized,” or otherwise be conformed to Western traditions. By originally writing this poem in French, through the eyes of an African woman talking to her dear husband, Ouologuem intends for his French-speaking or European audience to be aware of the emotional turmoil, fragility, and burden that modernization imposes on an individual.
Conclusion
As a person who has been exposed to many different cultures due to my unique background, one thing that I am relatively aware of is the effect of colonialism in different parts of the world. For example, Hawaii was illegally overthrown in 1893; similar to the situation shown in “A Mon Mari,” many Hawaiians had to struggle with the sudden cultural shift where the Kapu system (a spiritual code that they were required to follow) was abolished and replaced by Christianity. Among such turmoil present in the Hawaiian people, out of the many figures who sought to preserve Hawaiian culture while also making sure that the Hawaiian Kingdom stood strong against Western forces was King David Kalakaua, also known for publishing a book of Hawaiian legends (The Legends and Myths of Hawaii.)
While Ouologuem is often a target of academic controversy, his work “A Mon Mari” provides a critical perspective of Africa’s colonization highlighting the impact it had not only in community settings but also in domestic, intimate spaces where relationships are fostered. Through critical analysis of such works, we can hear and learn a valuable lesson spoken by a minority that is not often recognized in mainstream media or education.
