A Poetics of Laughter: Characterizing the African Comic Novel
The discussion of the African novel often focuses on the tragic or ‘serious’ novel, thus understating the existence of a comic novel tradition. Even though both the African comic novel and the African tragic novel are often shaped by the same sociopolitical experience, each genre is distinct in term...
Gespeichert in:
| Veröffentlicht in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ces, |
|---|---|
| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprache: | Anglais |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Commonwealth Essays and Studies
2022
|
| Online Zugang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Zusammenfassung: | The discussion of the African novel often focuses on the tragic or ‘serious’ novel, thus understating the existence of a comic novel tradition. Even though both the African comic novel and the African tragic novel are often shaped by the same sociopolitical experience, each genre is distinct in terms of technique. A characterization of the African comic novel, with Nkem Nwankwo’s Danda and Mongo Beti’s The Poor Christ of Bomba as primary examples, illustrates the nature of the comic or the poetics of laughter in the African novel – a poetics that ranges in this instance from the comic simplicitas of Danda to the comic magnitude in The Poor Christ of Bomba. |
|---|