Journal | Il Tolomeo
Journal issue | 26 | 2024
Research Article | Fantastic and Marvellous Reality; Witchcraft and Miscellaneous Events
Fantastic and Marvellous Reality; Witchcraft and Miscellaneous Events
Le commerce des Allongés by Alain Mabanckou
Abstract
The novel Le commerce des Allongés by Alain Mabanckou, launched at la rentrée littéraire in September 2022, is a fulfilment of the novelist’s desire to reconnect with the oral narratives of his childhood: by his own admission, Mabanckou draws on the répertoire by his mother bequeathed to him. The result is a singular work in which the fantastic is grafted onto news and gives way to the magic realism, while exploring workings of black magic rites. My purpose is to study the writer’s use of the supernatural and his manipulation of stereotypes, prejudices and commonplaces associated with Africa. The aim of Mabanckou’s work is to convey a strong, though biased, criticism of the powerful and influent African men who are stifling and corrupting their country’s society, and to plunge Western readers into a fearsome reality that is likely to amuse, shock and outrage them at the same time.
Submitted: June 12, 2024 | Accepted: Oct. 6, 2024 | Published Dec. 9, 2024 | Language: fr
Keywords Supernatural • Mabanckou • Social criticism • Subverting of the imaginary • Whichcraft
Copyright © 2024 Francesca Paraboschi. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/Tol/2499-5975/2024/01/009
