At a time when francophone women writers are hardly published, the Senegalese author Ken Bugul becomes the talk of the town with her 1982 novel Le baobab fou. At that point, not only is she becoming a francophone literary precursor to other francophone writers, she also imposes a style which explores and contradicts traditional views. Indeed from the beginning of the story in rural Senegal where the mother is traditionally defined and held responsible for educating her children so that the tradition can endure, Ken has to face her mothers disappearance when she is just a child. The lack of a maternal figure pushes Ken to seek comfort in the French colonial system and to choose self-exile in Europe. The first part of the novel La préhistoire de Ken points out the birth of Kens confused identity with the mothers abandonment acting as the principal trigger. My first chapter therefore analyzes the traditional role of the mother and Kens hybrid identity. This leads to the second chapter which discusses Kens exile in Lhistoire de Ken, the second part of the novel. Kens maternal quest ends up being a disillusioning journey where she falls into total decline, exploring many taboos including prostitution and drugs. My second chapter demonstrates that the absent mother is what defines Le baobab fou. Thus, it is interesting to look at a different novel from Ken Bugul Mes hommes à moi to examine once again the mother/daughter relationship. The third chapter compares the similarities and differences of this relationship as portrayed in the two novels but also includes the father figure to whom Bugul gives a bigger part in her latest work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-11102012-142437 |
| Date | 16 November 2012 |
| Creators | Jeudy, Natacha |
| Contributors | Peters, Rosemary, Yeager, Jack, Ngandu, Pius |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11102012-142437/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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