‘Translating’ alterity: Intercultural communication in the novels of Ahmadou Kourouma

Corcoran, Patrick; Corcoran, Patrick

doi:https://doi.org/10.3828/jrs.13.2.19

Corcoran, Patrick

Journal of Romance Studies (2013), 13, (2), 19–40.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3828/jrs.13.2.19
Language: English
Pages: 22

Abstract

The critical reception of the novels of Ahmadou Kourouma, while recognizing the political nature of his work, has tended to focus disproportionately on the originality of his style and his idiosyncratric treatment of the French language. In fact, Kourouma was deeply preoccupied with the linguistic tools at his disposal as he sought to communicate the social, cultural and political realities of an African experience and an African perspective on the world. His novels can be seen as attempts to translate these African experiences for a Western audience. This article demonstrates that the act of translating/interpreting and the ultimate impossibility of translation are recurring tropes in his narratives but they also serve as overarching metaphors for the task facing the postcolonial writer in a more general sense.

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