Éthique de l’interrogation Ironie, exil et sexualité dans l’écriture « sadienne » de Kangni Alem

Abstract

This article deals with aspects of movement in several of Togolese author Kangni Alem’s fictional compositions. Analyzing Alem’s Cola Cola Jazz and Canailles et Charlatans permits an examination of several such sequences in detail. These texts are characterized by a particular arrangement of “auto-graphical” segments, which achieves new dimensions of polyphonic and humoristic tendencies. I propose to raise awareness of a double-sided irony, one that maps the influence of the literary market while also subverting normative discourses. Techniques of detachment or “distancing” help to weaken essentialist constructs of identity, while images are revealed as artificially made, thus disturbing the pact between author and reader.