Abstract:
The present study on the topic “Imagination and thematic reality in the African
novel: a new vision to African novelists” aims to show the limitation of
the contribution of the African literary works to the good governance and development
process of African countries through the thematic choices and to
propose a new vision in relation to those thematic choices and to the structural
organisation of those literary works. The study is carried out through the
theory of narratology by Genette (1980) and the narrative study by Chatman
(1978) as applied to the novels by Chinua Achebe, essentially on the notion of
order by Genette and the elements of a narrative by Chatman. It is a thematic
and structural analysis that helps the researcher to be aware of the limitation
of the contribution of African fiction to the good governance of African States
and their real development, for the reason that themes and the structural organisation
of those works are past-oriented. In such a context, readers are
supposed to decode the different messages so as to put forth the necessary behaviour
from the depicted ones. But, when one compares the literary effort of
the novelists with the actual positive change, one realises that the gap is still
obvious. This brought the researcher to the proposal of a new thematic orientation
that does not depict societal misbehaviour but rather builds an ideal society
in which the character embodies what the African society should be,
African society which is here our particular concern so as to be able to make
up the challenge of globalisation. This is not to deny the “fictionality” of the
novels, but to reinforce it with stories that are not only past-oriented. This change
may constitute a new source of attraction for African future literary works.
