On the path to self-discovery. New meanings in the novels of the Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou "Blue White Red" and "Memoirs of a Porcupine"

Abstract

The article analyses the literary work of the Congolese writer Alain Mabanckou as the first one in African Francophone literature to implant autofictional writing into traditional everyday writing context. In this article, the analysis of Alain Mabanckou’s novels is made for the first time in African literary studies, both Russian and foreign. The author emphasises the novelty of the writer's style, which is expressed in the strengthening of subjectivity, in the accentuated introduction of the autobiographical element into the fictional text. The article points out one of the strongest points of Alain Mabanckou creative writing – the subtle psychologism, which distinguishes him from other Congolese writers, his amazing ability for a metaphysical perception of life. In the opinion of the author of the article, Alain Mabanckou intellectually elevates above the typical for Francophone African writers description with its clichéd images, typical situations and features of local flavour.