La fouille dans la mémoire comme réaction aux fracas de l’Histoire dans la poésie de Léopold Sédar Senghor
Digging into memory as a reaction to the turmoil of History in the poetry of Léopold Sédar Senghor

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to highlight the importance of memory in the poetic practice of Léopold Sédar Senghor. It intends to demonstrate that, by exploring the millennial memory of Africa, Senghor gives an ontological foundation to his race and debunks minimalist clichés forged by the colonial powers according to their respective transversal perspectives. However, it should also be emphasised that diving into memory is an expression of the aesthetic approach which allows the poet to give support to his panhumanist utopia. The mythical “Kingdom of Childhood”, discovered through the intercession of memory, is a place of communal warmth now lost which needs to be restored for the benefit of unitary ethics. It is, nonetheless, true that wandering in the realm of memory culminates in the creation of an original instant. In other words, if a poetic experience is transformed into a spiritual experience, it is because the ultimate challenge for a poet is to rediscover God.

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