MABANCKOU BOOK SIGNING Tuesday, 7 p.m. James
West Alumni Center
He is fluent in nine African tongues, but French is the language
Alain Mabanckou used to write the novels that have since made him a
literary celebrity in France.
The author and visiting UCLA professor was awarded the Prix
Renaudot on Nov. 6 for his novel “Memoires de
porc-epic.”
The Renaudot is a prestigious French literary prize comparable
to the National Book Award.
Mabanckou, a visiting professor in the Department of French and
Francophone Studies, will hold a reading in French and discussion
session of his award-winning work on Tuesday.
“For the time, we read it in French, because the book is
not translated,” Mabanckou said.
Three of his novels will be translated into English and
published in the U.S. next year, Mabanckou said.
Mabanckou said his winning of the prestigious award has helped
propel the French and Francophone studies department into the
international limelight, prompting prominent French newspapers such
as Le Monde to interview the UCLA department head, Dominic Thomas,
about the field.
“It’s good for Francophone studies. It makes our
department known around the world,” Mabanckou said.
The writer is such a celebrity in France that a French
television crew filmed his first class at UCLA last month,
according to a UCLA press release.
Born in the Congo, Mabanckou spent time in France before moving
to the U.S. and teaching at the University of Michigan for five
years. This is his first year at UCLA, and he said he hopes it is
not his last.
“I want to stay, hopefully. I like this place, I like this
university, the students are very great and wonderful. …
It’s like paradise. You have good weather, the city is
clean,” Mabanckou said.
Mabanckou, who learned to speak French at age 6, said
“Memoires de porc-epic,” which translates to
“Memoirs of a Porcupine,” is his attempt to record
African civilization. The novel is a fable written in the form of a
monologue told by a porcupine, based on the traditional African
belief that every human has an animal alter ego, according to an
article by UCLA Today.
The porcupine is the alter ego of a village artisan who forces
it to commit horrible crimes. It ultimately rebels against the
artisan by revealing to the village the perpetrators of the
activities, according to the article.
Because it is written from an African rather than a French
perspective, Francophone literature like that of Mabanckou
“is using the same language, but it’s coming from a
different path,” said Sandy Sargent, a UCLA alumna who
majored in comparative literature with a French minor.
Sargent said Mabanckou’s novels seemed to be attempting to
translate the Congolese culture into the French language.
“I think it’s significant coming from Africa and
coming from the Congo in particular,” Sargent said.
Writing about African traditions in languages other than their
native tongues allows those traditions to be more easily understood
by other cultures, Sargent said.
“It puts his expression into more of a worldwide
scale,” Sargent said.