The Continuing Discussion Over What Is French Literature

The excellent online literary journal The Critical Flame has just published a new issue, and it includes a very interesting essay by Liza Katz on the ongoing debate surrounding Francophone literature. Over the past few years the concept has become increasingly difficult to define, largely due to so many excellent French-language writers becoming recognized in diverse corners of the Francophone sphere.

The beginning of the essay makes the terms of the change very clear:

Is France still at the center of the French-language literary world? Or, to ask a broader question, is there a center at all? In the fall of 2006, five of the seven major French literary prizes were awarded to foreign-born writers. A manifesto penned by forty-four French-language writers the following year declares: “The center, from which supposedly radiated a franco-French literature, is no longer the center [. . .] the center, these fall prizes tell us, is henceforth everywhere, at the four corners of the world.” The need to assert this claim, combined with the fact that literary works in the francophone world are still ultimately measured by the standards of French prizes, indicates that such a dramatic change has yet to reach completion. But trends show that the center is beginning to dissolve. Demographic changes may also play a contributing role. According to a 2009 Atlantic Council study: “If you’re a human being who speaks French, you’re more likely to be African than European [. . .] If you’re a human being who is literate in French [. . .] you’re probably European. But not for much longer. Demographic growth plus the slow-but-steady rise of literacy rates in most of Africa means that by the next decade, most literate Francophones will be African too.”

Later on Katz proceeds to interrogate the very concept of the "Francophone":

Critic and scholar Irène Assiba D’Almeida points out that the distinction “francophone” is not really accurate: “Francophone, which simply means “French-speaking,” is not exactly appropriate to describe writing.” More critically, the term is misleading in that it does not tell the whole story of a writer’s language background. “[T]o call a person Francophone veils the fact that the person does have another language, in this case a first language, an African language.” Because boundaries between the former colonies were drawn by colonial administrators who did not account for patterns of tribal settlement, national lines arbitrarily cut through ethnic groups, with the result that numerous local languages are often spoken within a single nation.

It's a great essay in a great publication for lovers of good literary criticism. Definitely give it a look.