Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo Ouologuem

In September 1968, Le Devoir de violence (Bound to violence), the work of an as yet unknown Malian author, aged twenty-eight, Yambo Ouologuem, was published by the Editions du Seuil. On November 18 of that same year, the novel won the prize Renaudot. This was the first time ever that a major French...

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Main Author: Jean-Pierre Orban
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut des textes & manuscrits modernes (ITEM) 2018-05-01
Series:Continents manuscrits
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/coma/1189
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author Jean-Pierre Orban
author_facet Jean-Pierre Orban
author_sort Jean-Pierre Orban
collection DOAJ
description In September 1968, Le Devoir de violence (Bound to violence), the work of an as yet unknown Malian author, aged twenty-eight, Yambo Ouologuem, was published by the Editions du Seuil. On November 18 of that same year, the novel won the prize Renaudot. This was the first time ever that a major French literary prize was awarded to an African writer. Following the novel’s considerable success in France, it was soon to be translated into ten languages and crossed many a border from the United States to Japan. But on May 5, 1972, the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) accused the author of plagiarizing the work of the British writer Graham Greene. A scandal breaks out and will hound Yambo Ouologuem until his death in 2017. Fifty years after the first publication of the Devoir de violence and just as the novel is republished by Le Seuil, which of the various rumours regarding the genesis and the editorial treatment of this cult-cum-cursed book are well-founded or ill-founded? In this essay, Jean-Pierre Orban traces the history of the Devoir de violence and its author, from 1963 (date of the first presentation of a manuscript to Le Seuil) to the end the 1970s (when he retired in Mali and of he confined himself to silence). This work—which endeavours risky extrapolations and hasty interpretations—relies on the only solid files to date, those of the archives of the Institut Mémoires de l’Édition contemporaine (IMEC), publicly disclosed in the present production for the first time.
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spelling doaj-art-553eba042cd94870acaf5ca59eaf9d562025-08-20T01:55:05ZengInstitut des textes & manuscrits modernes (ITEM)Continents manuscrits2275-17422018-05-0110.4000/coma.1189Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo OuologuemJean-Pierre OrbanIn September 1968, Le Devoir de violence (Bound to violence), the work of an as yet unknown Malian author, aged twenty-eight, Yambo Ouologuem, was published by the Editions du Seuil. On November 18 of that same year, the novel won the prize Renaudot. This was the first time ever that a major French literary prize was awarded to an African writer. Following the novel’s considerable success in France, it was soon to be translated into ten languages and crossed many a border from the United States to Japan. But on May 5, 1972, the Times Literary Supplement (TLS) accused the author of plagiarizing the work of the British writer Graham Greene. A scandal breaks out and will hound Yambo Ouologuem until his death in 2017. Fifty years after the first publication of the Devoir de violence and just as the novel is republished by Le Seuil, which of the various rumours regarding the genesis and the editorial treatment of this cult-cum-cursed book are well-founded or ill-founded? In this essay, Jean-Pierre Orban traces the history of the Devoir de violence and its author, from 1963 (date of the first presentation of a manuscript to Le Seuil) to the end the 1970s (when he retired in Mali and of he confined himself to silence). This work—which endeavours risky extrapolations and hasty interpretations—relies on the only solid files to date, those of the archives of the Institut Mémoires de l’Édition contemporaine (IMEC), publicly disclosed in the present production for the first time.https://journals.openedition.org/coma/1189colonisationromanMalilittérature francophoneYambo OuologuemLe Devoir de violence
spellingShingle Jean-Pierre Orban
Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo Ouologuem
Continents manuscrits
colonisation
roman
Mali
littérature francophone
Yambo Ouologuem
Le Devoir de violence
title Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo Ouologuem
title_full Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo Ouologuem
title_fullStr Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo Ouologuem
title_full_unstemmed Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo Ouologuem
title_short Livre culte, livre maudit : Histoire du Devoir de violence de Yambo Ouologuem
title_sort livre culte livre maudit histoire du devoir de violence de yambo ouologuem
topic colonisation
roman
Mali
littérature francophone
Yambo Ouologuem
Le Devoir de violence
url https://journals.openedition.org/coma/1189
work_keys_str_mv AT jeanpierreorban livrecultelivremaudithistoiredudevoirdeviolencedeyamboouologuem