The post-1960 Negro-African literature, regardless of the perspective from which it is considered, is the tragic reflection of the failure of independence." Does this assertion hold true in the context of The Suns of Independence by Ahmadou Kourouma and A Season in the Congo by Aimé Césaire?

Abstract

It is often stated in academic circles that post-1960 Negro-African literature, no matter how envisaged, whether conceived from the angle of the clash between past and present, tradition and modernity, self and community, or politics and development, reflects the tragic failure of independence. Interest and curiosity led us to determine the truth or otherwise of this assertion by studying Une Saison au Congo by Aimé Césaire and Les Soleils des indépendances by Ahmadou Kourouma. With failure as our hypothesis, we began by studying the corroborative factors and discovered several of them. The theory of lack of absolutes dictated the examination of instances contrary to these corroborative factors. This led to complicity on the part of Africans themselves, certain neutral factors of failure, as well as wishy-washy traces of success. Our project mission not being witch-hunting per se as to the origins of miscarriage with respect to independence, we sketched a reliable conclusion.