La représentation de l’enfance dans deux romans de Calixthe Beyala
This dissertation draws its research hypothesis from an observation, that of the scarcity of studies on childhood in the fictional works of the writer Calixthe Beyala. Indeed, it emerges from our readings that this theme has so far remained on the fringes of critical concerns, although it is one of the novelist's favorite subjects. The studies that do exist are marked by their very general or fragmentary character. This dissertation therefore proposes to question childhood as it is represented in two novels that fall under the generic category of childhood stories. All the interest and relevance of the question are based on the perspective in which it is situated, that is to say in clear demarcation with the conventional conceptions of childhood in Europe (Rousseau, Novalis) or those which prevailed in traditional Africa (Senghor, Camara Laye) which make childhood a privileged moment of life, at the same time idyllic, carefree and joyful. The romantic universe of Beyala, on the contrary, presents unhappy, vulnerable, confused children, in search of landmarks, carrying the burden of their misfortunes resulting from the inconsistency of the family, the adult and the society whose structures and the practices dispossess them of their childhood. In this light, the reflections that are carried out in this dissertation revolve around the deconstruction of the conventional imagination of childhood, a paradoxical and confusing imaginary, in view of the dysfunctions within the family and society that characterize the universe of childhood in our corpus. Our study is based on theoretical approaches such as character analysis and narratology. It analyzes, through their characteristics, their actions and their relational network, the diegetic journey of the children's characters in order to discover the meanings attached to their construction. The narrative modalities and strategies involved, on the other hand, show the centrality of the child, both as a character and as a narrator of his story, with the implications such as the predominance of his point of view. The study also opens up on the social issues that feed the two narratives and reveals the critical discourse on society that underlies this writing of childhood.
childhood story French-speaking African literature characters narrative modalities