La fouille dans la mémoire comme réaction aux fracas de l’Histoire dans la poésie de Léopold Sédar Senghor
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Date
2022
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Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II, Wydawnictwo Werset
Abstract
Cet article se propose de dévoiler l’importance de la mémoire dans la pratique poétique de Léopold Sédar Senghor. Il s’agit de montrer qu’en explorant la mémoire millénaire de l’Afrique, Senghor donne un fondement ontologique à sa race et déboulonne les clichés minimalistes forgés par les puissances coloniales au gré de leurs perspectives transversales. Cependant, il importe d’affirmer que la plongée dans la mémoire est aussi la démarche esthétique que privilégie le poète pour mettre au jour le ferment d’une utopie panhumaniste. Le mythique « Royaume d’Enfance » qu’il découvre par l’intercession de la mémoire est le lieu d’une symbiose aujourd’hui perdue et qu’il s’agit de restaurer au bénéfice de l’éthique unitaire. Il n’en reste pas moins vrai que l’errance dans le règne de la mémoire culmine dans la création de l’instant originel. En d’autres termes, si l’expérience poétique se transforme en expérience spirituelle, c’est que l’enjeu ultime, pour le poète, est de retrouver Dieu.
This article aims to highlight the importance of memory in the poetic practice of Léopold Sédar Senghor. It intends to demonstrate that, by exploring the millennial memory of Africa, Senghor gives an ontological foundation to his race and debunks minimalist clichés forged by the colonial powers according to their respective transversal perspectives. However, it should also be emphasised that diving into memory is an expression of the aesthetic approach which allows the poet to give support to his panhumanist utopia. The mythical “Kingdom of Childhood”, discovered through the intercession of memory, is a place of communal warmth now lost which needs to be restored for the benefit of unitary ethics. It is, nonetheless, true that wandering in the realm of memory culminates in the creation of an original instant. In other words, if a poetic experience is transformed into a spiritual experience, it is because the ultimate challenge for a poet is to rediscover God.
This article aims to highlight the importance of memory in the poetic practice of Léopold Sédar Senghor. It intends to demonstrate that, by exploring the millennial memory of Africa, Senghor gives an ontological foundation to his race and debunks minimalist clichés forged by the colonial powers according to their respective transversal perspectives. However, it should also be emphasised that diving into memory is an expression of the aesthetic approach which allows the poet to give support to his panhumanist utopia. The mythical “Kingdom of Childhood”, discovered through the intercession of memory, is a place of communal warmth now lost which needs to be restored for the benefit of unitary ethics. It is, nonetheless, true that wandering in the realm of memory culminates in the creation of an original instant. In other words, if a poetic experience is transformed into a spiritual experience, it is because the ultimate challenge for a poet is to rediscover God.
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Keywords
Léopold Sédar Senghor, mémoire, Afrique, légitimation ontologique, utopie humaniste, la soif du sacré, memory, Africa, ontological legitimation, humanist utopia, thirst for the sacred
Citation
"Quêtes littéraires" 2022, nº 12, s. 60-72