Writing and mask : Semiotic and poetic approach

• Main Author: Zang Ndong, Pascaline
• Other Authors: Centre de Recherches Sémiotiques (CeReS), Institut Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société (IR SHS UNILIM), Université de Limoges (UNILIM)-Université de Limoges (UNILIM), Université de Limoges, Isabelle Klock-Fontanille
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2017
• Subjects: Concealment; Poetic; Writing object; Mask; Dissimulation; Poétique; Objet d’écriture; Masque; [SHS.LANGUE]Humanities and Social Sciences/Linguistics; Fang; sami
• Online Access: https://theses.hal.science/tel-01709685; https://theses.hal.science/tel-01709685/document; https://theses.hal.science/tel-01709685/file/2017LIMO0063.pdf

Questions about the existence of writing in Africa have always interested intellectual circles, between those who think that writing on the continent is a new phenomenon resulting from colonization, and those who challenge it. The present thesis proposes to analyze the presence of the writing in the traditional Fang society, and to demonstrate that every society has that will of inscription of meaning in order to perpetuate the collective memory (rites, beliefs and social organization). It is through the mask that that problematic will be studied: the mask as the means of reading that "thought of writing". The second stage of this work, will deal with the mask in literature, through its different levels of apprehension (cultural mask and social mask) without considering them as heterogeneous, but to emphasize its complementarity. Then, this work will also highlight how the literary writing appropriates the functioning of the mask in two authors: Ludovic Obiang and Sami Tchak, through concealment or veil. The interest here is to reconsider the position of traditional symbols in contemporary African literature, as an attempt to answer to current questions. Les questions sur l’existence de l’écriture en Afrique ont toujours intéressé les milieux intellectuels, entre ceux qui pensent que l’écriture sur le continent est un phénomène nouveau, issu de la colonisation et ceux qui le remettent en question. La présente thèse se propose d’analyser la présence de l’écriture dans la société traditionnelle fang et démontrer que toute société a cette volonté d’inscription du sens afin de perpétuer la mémoire collective (rites, croyances et organisation sociale). C’est à travers le masque que cette problématique sera étudiée : le masque comme ce qui permet de lire cette « pensée de l’écriture ». Le second temps de ce travail, abordera le masque dans la littérature, à ses différents niveaux d’appréhension (masque culturel et masque social) sans les considérer comme hétérogènes mais pour en souligner la complémentarité. Puis, ...