Memory, Orality, and Nation-Building in Patrice Nganang’s La saison des prunes

Abstract

This chapter focuses on how historical sources and the colonial library can be used by African writers to offer readers counter-narrations that challenge imperial history. Patrice Nganang ’s novel La saison des prunes questions on how memories are relative and how they make possible a new story of both the tirailleur sénégalais (African soldiers who fought for France) and World War II. But Nganang ’s novel does not only offer multiple perspectives on a past event; it also raises the issue of the narration of History more broadly. Can the Subaltern really speak and be heard? This chapter examines how historical sources can be used not only for reexamining national past history, but also for effectively building the future.