L'oralité — tradition culturelle et/ou option esthétique? A propos de deux romans francophones

Abstract

As a starting point of this study, we suppose that verbality and the use of written records come across in a different way in the francophone or the so-called post-colonial literature than, for instance, in the European literature, in which it has a longer tradition. To establish the truth of the thesis and to show the typical features, we have chosen two novels, one is by Patrick Chamoiseau, the other is by Fouad Laroui. The first one is linked to creole traditions, the latter one to Arabic- Moroccan traditions but both of them use the genre of the (post)-modern novel. The paper, on one hand, reveals the manner of verbality, embedded into the text, on the other hand, it shows the general structures, hidden under the surface like for example the child's path towards the school, i.e., towards knowledge, or the otherness of the home-comer compared to the ones who stayed at home. Nevertheless, the key point of the interpretation of both novels is their relationship to the French culture and language which in both cases is simply an inevitable fact, but nowadays this fact does not raise any difficulties in forming an independent identity or applying post-modern discourses in their own contexts.