Le personnage face au surnaturel dans La Folie et la Mort et De l’autre côté du regard de Ken Bugul
A Character Facing the Supernatural in Ken Bugul’s La Folie et la Mort and De l’autre côté du regard

Author(s): Anna Swoboda
Subject(s): Studies of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Ken Bugul; Senegal; fantastic literature; marvelous; supernatural;
Summary/Abstract: When analyzing African fantastic literature, one needs to be aware of the specific context of its emergence. Unlike in Western fantastic literature, the supernatural is rooted in everyday life and often does not evoke any fear nor surprise. This article aims to analyze the heroines’ reaction to the supernatural in two novels by a Senegalese writer Ken Bugul: De l’autre côte du regard and La Folie et la Mort. The hesitation between belief and disbelief of the supernatural, as defined by Todorov, is possible when the protagonist has an ambivalent relationship with the African tradition and is influenced by the Western thought. However, if the protagonist is not at all surprised or afraid of the supernatural, we are dealing with a neighboring genre: the marvelous. In my study, I will refer to the Western, as well as the African theories of fantastic literature.

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