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Neo-slave Narratives: Studies in the Social Logic of a Literary Form (review)

Most intriguing about this study are the condensed retrospective analyses it offers of a Francophone denunciatory tradition that confronts, contests, and counters the dehumanizing excesses and legacies of colonial domination. One recalls the famous Discourse on Colonialism and Notebook of a Return to the Native Land where Césaire vehemently shows the dehumanization of French colonialism. In his poetry, Léon Gontran Damas refuses to embody French politics of assimilation. Ken Bugul's text The Abandoned Baobab questions the pitfalls of postcolonialism while Mariama Bâ's So Long a Letter criticizes man's excesses and laments women's systematic participation in polygamy. Tahar ben Jelloun's The Sand Child gives voice to racism and the poor working conditions that Moroccan men endure as guest workers in France. Gérard Etienne's site of opposition is Haiti, the "First Black Republic," where Négritude was first celebrated. Walker's study is a valuable contribution to the field of Francophone literature that clarifies our understanding of the illusions of modernity often discussed in the francophone literary tradition. This fascinating and stimulating book will be profitably read by scholars in the field of francophone studies as well as nonspecialists.