Moral and physical gangrene in the novel: The wound, By Malick Fall

Abstract

The reality of contemporary African life, especially its unwholesome aspects, is often reflected in West African francophone writing of the last half of the twentieth century. Its depiction can be either realistic or symbolic. There can be either accurate representation of dictatorships and corruption, in which fiction hardly veils reality, in such novels as La vie et demie (Life and a half) (1979) by Sony Labou Tansi, The laughing cry (1987), by Henri Lopes, or Tropical Circle, by Alioum Fantouré (1989). Or those ills could also be revealed in symbolic ways, in such novels as Saint Monsieur Baly (1973) by Williams Sassine, Xala (1974) by Sembene Ousmane or La carte d'identité, (The Identity Card) (1995) by Jean-Marie Adiaffi, in which lepers, cripples, the blind and disabled, beggars and those suffering from oozing wounds abound. This second figurative representation of Africa's ills prevalent during that period, will be analysed, with reference to the novel The Wound (1967) by the Senegalese writer Malick Fall. It is characterised by manifold and complex forms of symbolism. Indeed, in addition to presenting visual and clinical authenticity, other levels of significance can be found.

Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research Vol. 4 () 2007: pp.164-172