Religion et création romanesque: l’exemple du roman africain de langue française
Religion and novel creation: the example of the African-French novel

Summary/Abstract: The September 11 attacks on the United States have rekindled the debate on the clash of civilizations. But the issue of religious otherness it embodies is transhistorical. This issue is particularly prevalent in Africa, because 70% of the traditional religions of the world are present. The construction of religious identities on this continent is consubstantial with that of alienation, because the mixing of peoples is not smooth, and “the cultural ethnocentrism” is characteristic of all civilizations. This phenomenon finds in literature one of the best means of expression. How is religious discourse oriented in African French novels? Such is the central concern underlying this article. The fact is that if the colonial novel rejects the traditional religions to celebrate the assimilation to Christianity, writers of the first generation reject the latter because it rhymes with colonialism, and value tradition. Those of the second generation set out to find a compromise between foreign religions – especially Christianity – and traditional religions. Thus arises a process of religious syncretism.

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