Positioning Styles: Léopold Sédar Senghor and Ousmane Sembène at the Turn of Independence (1956-1966)

Abstract

Léopold Sédar Senghor and Ousmane Sembène are the two most recognized Senegalese writers. They played a leading role in the process of cultural decolonization. However, they seem incomparable in many ways. This thesis aims to study the way in which Senghor (poet, theorist, academician, and first president of independent Senegal) and Sembène (a Marxist-inspired novelist and filmmaker) invest the French-speaking African literary field of the 1950s-1960s. The former established himself with a monumental work that applied the criteria of legitimization in force in the Parisian center. The second—who belongs to a following generation—builds his author’s image by opposing the first, and by favoring a popular work. He seeks a real audience in Africa, as reflected by the generic choice of the novel, and later by the medium choice of cinema. Beyond illustrating these two authors’ poetics, this thesis focuses on a key moment in African French-speaking literature. Indeed, the opposition between Senghor and Sembène reveals a discursive empowerment of this literary production, which is no longer conceived solely in relation to a hexagonal production. With a stylistic and discourse analysis approach, this thesis aims to reach a contextual and relative definition of style. Rather than a way to distinguish oneself from an abstract conception of language or literature, the work of style would be a way for an author to differentiate himself from other authors who occupy a close place in the same field.