The character Batouala in the african jungle cycle by René Maran from 1913 to 1953

Abstract

Very few studies have looked at the character Batouala, the old “Moukondji,” in the eponymous novel, subtitled “a True Black Novel”, and even less on his role in two later novels by René Maran, where Batouala reappears, although he seemed to be dead at the end of the first one. These are Djouma, the Jungle Dog (1927) and Bacouya, the cynocephalic (1953) – “animal” novels, since they are narrated from the point of view of a dog and a monkey respectively. However, these three novels raise a question about the representation of the character of Batouala. He is black, of course, but is he a true hero of the novel?