La farce tragique – une réécriture de l’absurdité historique des idéologies communistes et du grotesque des dictatures militaires africaines

Abstract


 
 
 Matei Vișniec’s dramaturgy perhaps best illustrates the paradox that absurdity and tragic or grotesque farce most adequately depict the destiny of peoples whose history is marked by defeat, derision, and tragedy. The political situation in certain countries and totalitarian regimes in Eastern Europe and Africa, characterized by genocide and inter-ethnic fighting, can hardly be a source of comedy, but the dramatic stakes of the tragic farce seem best suited to express the absurdity and regression of totalitarian ideologies. The comic turn amazes the viewer by its ability to conform the historical truth. In this article,1 2 I aim to identify not so much an ideological but mostly aesthetic, dramaturgical modus operandi of the tragic farce using a corpus consisting of texts by playwrights Matei Vișniec, Sonya Labou Tansi, and Koffi Kwahulé.