VIDANJE OŽILJAKA IZAZVANIH KOLONIJALIZMOM, GRAĐANSKIM RATOVIMA I GENOCIDOM: ROMANI GAELA FAJA

Abstract

The history of sub-Saharan countries after independence attracts the attention of contemporary writers, especially given the numerous contradictions and subsequent conflicts, as well as a relatively limited knowledge of the African cultural and historical context among the European public. In his two novels – Small Country (Petit Pays, 2016) and Jacaranda (2024) – Gaël Faye depicts the situation in Burundi and Rwanda, countries connected to him by his own life story. They have, moreover, suffered greatly in recent history, particularly due to the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994 and the civil wars. Our analysis, based on Genette’s narratology and focused on how the author narrates the daily realities of these two countries, demonstrates that the chosen narrative technique allows him to introduce the reader to the recent history of these two countries and their cultures, and also to evoke in the reader the same feelings as he and their respective protagonists experience as they discover them. Despite the almost documentary-like details, Gaël Faye’s novels retain, above all, their fictional character.