French Literature Reviews - 2026

B. Malela, Aimé Césaire and the Rereading of the Coloniality of Power
Francophone and Oral Literatures

Buata B. Malela

Aimé Césaire et la relecture de la colonialité du pouvoir

preface by Jean Bessière

Paris, Anibwe, coll. Liziba poche

2019

320p

ISBN : 9782916121192

OVERVIEW

Using Aimé Césaire as a case study, Buata Malela contextualizes the Caribbean and African writers who have dominated the Francophone literary scene since the Second World War, offering a fresh reading of their works. He offers neither biographies nor monographs of these authors, nor direct readings of their abundant output in fiction, poetry, and drama. […] Instead, his approach falls within the sociology of literature, understood in a specific sense: writers and their works are analyzed through their comparative positions regarding the realities of colonial power and alienation, as well as through the relationships of agreement or disagreement—whether explicit or implicit—that they maintain among themselves and through their ideologies and works.

This study approaches Francophone literature through the sociology of literature, examining the relational dynamics among writers and their positions regarding colonial structures. Rather than offering traditional author biographies or close readings of individual texts in poetry and drama, the work investigates how intellectuals negotiate the realities of alienation and power within their shared historical context. Readers interested in Caribbean and African post-colonial literary studies may find this volume a relevant contribution to current critical discussions.

The volume situates its inquiry within broader debates concerning literary engagement and the intellectual field in the post-war era. By focusing on the ideological alignments and tensions among major figures, the text contributes to an understanding of how writers collectively position themselves relative to political power. The contextual framework highlights the ongoing critical interest in the relationship between cultural production and the enduring structures of the colonial past.