The reissue of "Batouala", Goncourt 1921, rediscovers a novel written in the heart of Africa
René Maran, portrait, 1930. Wikimedia Commons / BnF / Agence Meurisse
Text by: Isabelle Chenu Follow
5 mins
In this week of literary prizes in France, the Albin Michel editions have decided to reissue a 1921 Goncourt Prize awarded to the author René Maran for his novel "
Batouala
".
The opportunity to rediscover a text which has not aged a bit despite its hundred years as well as a French author who, until his death in 1960, deplored that he was constantly referred to "
his status as the first black man. rewarded by the Goncourt
”.
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René Maran was born in Martinique to Guyanese parents.
In 1890, he was three years old when his family took the boat to Africa where his father was appointed to a colonial administrative post.
He had seven when he was sent to boarding school, alone, to attend school in Bordeaux.
Petriated by classical culture, mad lover of books and literature, René Maran will become colonial administrator.
A pure product of his humanist education, he believes in a civilizing mission of French colonization ... before becoming disillusioned with reality.
"Batouala" the unexpected success
When he won the Prix Goncourt in the last ballot, on December 14, 1921, René Maran was unknown.
It took almost eight years to refine
Batouala
, which he wrote in the heart of Africa.
The news is going around the world, because France has just awarded its most prestigious literary prize to a French and black author, a first.
The news did not reach the person concerned until ten days later, colonial administrator in Oubangui Chari between the Congo and Lake Chad, René Maran was several days' walk from the first relay station. This first novel is a tale about the daily life of a
mokoundji
(an African chief), about his political and religious activities, his rivalries with a younger warrior. It is also a book full of sounds…. An ode to the fauna, to the flora, to the intense beauty of African nature.
The press is enthusiastic. "
This is the first time that blacks play and win
" headlines the newspaper
Le Petit Parisien
. Yet this Goncourt prize is scandalous. Fabrice Gardel directed for the overseas pole of France Télévisions a documentary devoted to the life and work of the writer: “
René Maran is not a political activist, he is not at all an ideologue, he is not a Franz Fanon (essayist and psychiatrist, founder of the Third Worldist line of thought and a major figure in anti-colonialism). He considers himself a French writer like Mauriac or Gide or Paul Valéry. What ignited the powder was not
Batouala
it is the small preface which denounces colonization and in which he writes: "civilization you are building your kingdom on corpses", the more he stays in Africa the more he discovers the way in which the colonials exploit Africa "
.
►
Also to listen:
René Maran, precursor of negritude
Success and disillusion
The plundering of Africa, alcoholism and the lack of training of the colonists, abuses of all kinds, René Maran discovered them with fear. The honest man who received a classical culture steeped in humanism, made a point of learning the local dialects upon his arrival at Fort Archambault in the north of AEF, French Equatorial Africa. He believes in the dream of colonization that will bring education and health, but his ideals come up against terrible observations. At the same time, the power of the African continent, its populations, its traditions, fascinate him. He decides to write
Batouala
, a novel rediscovered somewhat by chance by Stéphane Barsacq, editor at Albin Michel. "
We are in 1921 and for the first time, we were showing a continent told from a point of view that is not that of a colonist.
For the first time, we have black heroes told by a black author who knows Africa.
It's something surprisingly modern and still so.
At times we can have the feeling of reading rap, slam.
There is a linguistic texture that Maran works with great talent, his writing is absolutely not out of fashion, that's what surprised me the most.
We were reading a book that was a century old and we had the impression that it had been written yesterday ”
.
Too black for Europeans, too white for Africans
René Maran, like all free men, has a good number of detractors.
He is accused of being a usurper, of not having written
Batouala
, or even "
of biting the hand of France which fed it
".
Three years after his Goncourt Prize he resigned from the colonial administration, he published until the end of his life about twenty books: novels, animal or philosophical tales, poems and several biographies on the pioneers of the empire such as Pierre Savorgnan. de Brazza, his model, a great figure in French colonial expansion and a philosopher of non-violence.
►
Also to listen:
“Batouala”, by René Maran
"
We can clearly see that the question of colonialism today
, explains editor Stéphane Barsacq,"
the question of black artists, the simple question of a black presence is in the spotlight of the news. Well Named. It all comes from a long way away. René Maran experienced the scandal and a century later in a way the scandal continues. We see that the question of an alterity to Western civilization is something that does not go without saying. We have the will to reestablish, to correct, to put into perspective both a history and a memory and also valuable people who are beacons for everyone
”.
Batouala
will be translated into English at the beginning of the 1930s. In a segregationist America, a black French writer who denounces racism makes a lot of noise.
“
The Batouala scandal will be global, René Maran makes the front page of the New York Times, he denounces colonization seven years before Gide, he is quoted by Alan Locke….
Batouala
played a major role
, ”underlines director Fabrice Gardel.
All his life René Maran wished to be considered as
Un homme pareil aux autres
, the title of his biographical-inspired novel published in 1947. Also reissued this fall by Le Typhon.
►
Also to listen:
The centenary of the novel Batouala by René Maran
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