La figuration de l'art dans les romans de V.Y. Mudimbe

Authors

Olga Hel-Bongo, Université Laval

Abstract

In Mudimbe's novels, art depicts the author and his writings, through a play of substitution and decentering. The author uses the artistic medium to escape constraints of discursive, religious, political or sexual order and as a place of transfiguration of the characters' desires. The aim of this article is to show that references to painting, literature, cinema and music reflect the refusal of the I to speak about oneself, except indirectly. The author chooses a strategy of decentering by combining the language of words and of images, and suggests, behind the mask of narrative representation, a taste for provocation, social and institutional heresy, carnal love (homosexual and heterosexual). Based on the four novels of the author, we will show that the artistic quote is part of a dual perspective: social and political, on the one hand, sensual and intimate, on the other.

Recommended Citation

Hel-Bongo, Olga (2018) "La figuration de l'art dans les romans de V.Y. Mudimbe," Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature: Vol. 91: No. 1, Article 11.
Available at: https://crossworks.holycross.edu/pf/vol91/iss1/11