La merde et le lait: Réalisme érotico-ésotérique postcolonial dans Suburban Blues de Yémy Academic Article uri icon

Abstract

  • This contribution aims at analyzing Suburban Blues, a novel by Franco-Cameroonian author Yémy, as well as his original discourse on the French nation, through theories of abjection (Kristeva), democracy vs. archipolity (Rancière) and agonistic community (Mouffe). The book’s relationship with the abject is evident through the omnipresent, manifold representation of fecal matter in postcolonial banlieue, although, quite interestingly, the scatological is soon counterbalanced by an overabundance of textual references to “Roman charity”-like breastfeeding passages, which are scopophilic in nature, i.e. resolutely anti-Kristevan. The literary function of these erotic scenes, I argue, is to depict the postcolonial subject both as derelict (cf. feces) and as a recipient of choice for renewed hope and energy thanks to the milk thus received. The conceptual tools provided by Rancière and Mouffe also enable us to shed light on Yémy’s important contributions relative to post-slavery reparations in France and the contemporary world.

Publication Date

  • 2024-03-01

Published In

  •   Journal