Intratextual translation in Batouala, a true black novel, by René Maran

Abstract

This paper aims to show that the authenticity of René Maran’s Batouala, a True Black Novel (1921) - authenticity present in the subtitle’s words - is closely linked to its obscure style. This style makes literary use of the sounds, words and structures taken from the French pidgin and African languages, which is sometimes accompanied by an intratextual translation into French. The semantic obscurity deliberately produced on the Francophone reader by those African languages is a main feature of René Maran’s style in his “Black Novel”.