D'une violence l'autre. Scénographie des rapports de hiérarchie et de domination dans La préférence nationale de Fatou Diome

Authors

Olga Hel-Bongo, Université Laval

Abstract

Figures of vulnerability abound in contemporary francophone novels. Be it children soldiers, Black women in Monenembo and Kourouma's fictions, abused children or prostitution in Marie NDiaye, Fiston Mwanza and Fatou Diome's novels, the vulnerable subject, far from undergoing torments of a decadent and miserable life due to a situation of lack, often shows or hides a strength that often sharpens on contact with violence. Fatou Diome uses silence and writing to express the character's resistance to violence. For instance, the feminine subject sets up barriers around the self to counter the adversity of a world often depicted as intolerant, undifferentiated and bourgeois. The logic of domination in Fatou Diome's first publication, La préférence nationale, acknowledges an inversion: the dominant figure happens to be a victim of stereotypes and ideology, whereas the dominated subject, seen as an undesired outsider, takes his strength from an apparent weakness. This article aims to reveal the mechanisms and consequences of vulnerability in Fatou Diome's short stories.

Recommended Citation

Hel-Bongo, Olga (2020) "D'une violence l'autre. Scénographie des rapports de hiérarchie et de domination dans La préférence nationale de Fatou Diome," Présence Francophone: Revue internationale de langue et de littérature: Vol. 94: No. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://crossworks.holycross.edu/pf/vol94/iss1/6