| The Noir Atlantic: Chester Himes and the Birth of the Francophone African Crime Novel Contributor(s): Higginson, Pim (Author) |
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ISBN: 1846318696 ISBN-13: 9781846318696 Publisher: Liverpool University Press OUR PRICE: $49.49 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 2013 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Literary Criticism | African - Literary Criticism | European - French |
| Dewey: 843 |
| Series: Liverpool University Press - Contemporary French & Francopho |
| Physical Information: 0.5" H x 6.1" W x 9.1" (0.83 lbs) 216 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - French |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The Noir Atlantic follows the influence of African American author Chester Himes on Francophone African crime fiction. In 1953, Himes emigrated to Paris; he struggled there, just as he had in the United States. In 1957, his luck changed: the famous French Série noire brought out the first installment of his Harlem crime series, La reine des pommes. Suddenly, he was a household name in France. Later, he would also have a significant influence on Francophone African writers; for them, Himes's blend of absurdist humor and violence offered an alternative to a high literary paradigm implanted during the colonial era. Likewise, his heterogeneous identity as American, black, and a writer of French bestsellers modeled an escape from the centripetal pull of the Métropole. Starting with Abasse Ndione's depictions of Senegal's marijuana-smoking subculture in La Vie en spirale (1982) and ending with Mongo Beti's 2001 Branle-bas en noir et blanc, set in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Francophone African crime fiction rejected French criteria of literary success; it embraced a new postcolonial aesthetic that emphasized entertaining the reader while making a living. The Noir Atlantic demonstrates why turning to what this study calls a frivolous literary mode represented a profound shift in perspective that anticipated more recent developments such as littérature monde. |
