Généalogie d'une banalité de Sinzo Aanza. Le roman des moins-que-rien et des héros médiocres

Authors

Justin Bisanswa, Université de Lubumbashi/Université Laval

Abstract

This study looks at vulnerability in its full complexity through an analysis at the interstice of sociology and rhetoric of the book Genealogie d'une banalite by Sinzo Aanza. The inhabitants of the poor neighbourhood of the Bronx decide to overcome their misery by digging under their dwellings, in search of copper to sell to the Chinese. This access to money brings them to relish in certain pleasures. The characters live in an enclosed environment that, through the instability of their representation, becomes the space of multiple enigmas: social, sexual and emotional. These characters provoke a condensation of meaning leading to certain social discoveries and to a number of considerations on human relationships, as well as those between classes and hierarchies. They create a space "between", placing themselves at the frontier separating two social spheres: their own and the one that the aspire to be a part of. This "damned" neighbourhood is also the place of a sociological analysis of reciprocal relations between the individual and the collective. In this portrait, fiction and the imaginary play an essential role wherein rhetorical proceedings and discursive strategies illustrate the author's passion for meaning, notably in the second degree.

Recommended Citation

Bisanswa, Justin (2020) "Généalogie d'une banalité de Sinzo Aanza. Le roman des moins-que-rien et des héros médiocres," Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature: Vol. 94: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://crossworks.holycross.edu/pf/vol94/iss1/5