Narrative space in African novels written in French and Spanish: linguistic and stylistic aspect
Contemporary postcolonial literatures in the European languages are characterised by fragmented and kaleidoscopic narrative spaces, which is explained by personal experience of the writers, whose literary production is created at the interstice of languages, mentalities and imaginary spaces. The clash of the two cultures - African and European - occurs in the “buffer zones” called non-place by Marc Augé. The underground often constitutes such a non-place in the novels by African writers. A vivid example is offered by the eponymous novel by Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo, which opens and closes in the metro of Madrid. An airport in African novels is a “space of flows” (Manuel Castells) constituted on the basis of its relationship with other places. It is a point of crossing of human and information flows conveying special meaning and functionality (“Ces âmes chagrines” by Léonora Miano and “L’Impasse” by Daniel Biyaoula). The analysis reveals the otherness of the chronotope of African novels in French and Spanish and confirms the advisability of projection of postmodern categories on the postcolonial discourse.