Le mythe de Samori Touré entre singularité identitaire et universalité
Juggling between the Universal and the Individual Identities Seen through the Myth of Samori Touré

Summary/Abstract: This article explores how in Les baigneurs du Lac Rose / Bathers of the Pink Lake (1995), a novel written by the contemporary Ivorian woman writer Tanella Boni, the mythical figure of Samori Touré (a warrior king and a hero of the resistance against French colonial rule in West Africa from 1882 until 1898) is resuscitated as a way of (re)working / (re)establishing personal identity. The myth, which automatically anchors one’s identity into a communal frame, becomes here a story of conquest – i.e., a story of a hard-fought-for and, consequently, well-deserved victory. Conquering (hardships, troubles, fears, weaknesses; the past; an enemy –or a lover) seems no longer to be a reserve of the few, but something in the power of each individual, man or woman. It means being able to successfully oppose anything that is bad and ugly. It means being able to acquire freedom and peace of mind, among other good and thoroughly wished-for things.

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