Eleventh Honors English

Kept by every important family to serve as family historian and public relations officer
Advised the family on matters of lineage and acted as a court adviser and entertainer
Chief function – to sing the praise of his patron; in return patron showered him with gifts

One of the founders of the African realist tradition
Never received a formal education
At 15 enlisted in French army (fought in Italy and Germany in WWII)
1947 returned to Senegal and participated in the Dakar – Niger railroad workers’ strike
Next 10 years in Marseille, where he became the leader of the longshoremen’s union.
1st novel Le docker noir (1956 ; the black dock worker) based on personal experiences

depicts the betrayal suffered by an African writer whose novel is published under false pretenses, as well as the betrayal suffered by African workers who lead a wretched existence in Marseille

presents as its hero an enlightened self-made man who seeks to liberate his countrymen

Came out just before Senegal became independent
Well received by critics [See Critical Note]
Sprawling fresco dealing with the Dakar – Niger railroad strike in 1947 during later stages of French colonialism
Set in 3 main towns along the railroad: Dakar, Thies, and Bamako
In each town Ousmane focuses on a particular family’s hardships arising from the strike (In each case the workers and their loved ones must choose between continued struggle and surrender)
Structure has been compared with that of Man’s Fate by Andre Malraux

Tiemoko, the leader in charge of the unit responsible for punishing strikebreakers, studies the Malraux novel to learn how to deal with those who desert the worker’s cause.
Differ in that Ousmane favors nonviolent resistance over violence

Multidimensional story as seen through the eyes of the workers, their family members, and directors of the railroad company. The strike ends in the victory of the workers.
Used to make economic, political, and cultural points in support Senegal’s struggle against the French and labor’s struggle with management.
Unlike works of Leopold Sedar Senghor and Camara Laye, not written for African elite; Ousmane speaks to works as one of them
All 3 novels are historical, political works with strong social comment
Writing style strongly evokes immediacy of cinematic medium
Ousmane’s desire to touch the common people in Senegal, who can neither read or write, and who speak Wolof, not French, led him to turn to film making in the early 1960’s. Studied film in Russia.

Father of the African Film
First film created by African filmmaker – La noire de . . . (1966; the black girl of. . .)

Adapted from his short story based on an actual event reported in the newspaper Nice-matin(1958)
Suicide of a young Senegalese servant, who while vacationing with her boss’s family in the Riviera, suffers from homesickness and from the insensitivity of her European masters.

Attack polygamy, vividly depicting the plight of older wives, whose husbands acquire younger more desirable brides
Presents taboo subject of African cooperation in supplying slaves to be sent to the western hemisphere in the 17 th century ( Ceddo film banned in Senegal)
Open hostility and bitterness toward foreigners, religious leaders, and the African bourgeoisie has pitted him against former President Senghor.
Deeply committed to spreading socialism and trade unionism in Africa
Shows in films and novels that excessive reverence for authority, whether bureaucratic or traditional, can only impede the progress necessary to build a modern and totally independent Africa
More self-critical, less romanticized than Senghor’s work

Founder and editor of the first Wolof language monthly, Kaddu
One of the first African male writers to give in his works a serious attention to women characters