This book is the first to examine postcolonial cultures and identities by investigating the way in which violence is represented by Francophone creative artists. Focusing chiefly on literature, but including discussion of both film and photography, the volume includes chapters on the representation of the colonial massacre in Paris and Thiaroye; of beatings, torture and murder in Congo and the Maghreb; of the Rwandan genocide; of slavery in the Antilles; and of violence – especially the rape and abuse of women – throughout the Francophone world. These analyses, while they make for troubling reading, permit interesting comparisons and confirm the existence of concerns that are common to postcolonial Francophone artists. A pressing interest in materiality and the physical body as a vehicle of representation, a preoccupation with gender, and a restless experimentation with creative form are some of the most insistent features of their work. Most importantly, perhaps, their portrayal of violence reveals a strong engagement not only with the politics of postcolonial culture and identity, but with their ethical dimensions.
