LE CROQUIS, UN GENRE LITTÉRAIRE VIATIQUE DE L’ÈRE COLONIALE
THE SKETCH, A COLONIAL LITERARY GENRE

Summary/Abstract: Between 1914 and 1945 Africa attracted several travellers enthusiastic about colonial exoticism. Among the destinations on offer, the Belgian Congo, an unknown territory half a century earlier, became very popular, along with Algeria and Niger. Among the media texts extolling the beauty of this area is the literary sketch. This type of narrative, whose particular formal structure mediates a discourse that enshrines ordinary places as tourist attractions. Based on two samples, the Congolese sketches by Charles Bulls and the Moukanda anthology, we shall first discuss what a sketch is and the context in which it is produced. Next, we examine the particular importance of literary sketches in the colonial context. We shall finally see how the literary discourse generates tourist ”places”.

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