Literature and translation in Burkina Faso: the case of Fidèle P. Rouamba’s novel Le Carnaval de la mort

Abstract

Translation, considered as a product of linguistic diversity or the confusion following the fall of the Tower of Babel, represents an act of communication. In a multilingual society, such as Burkina Faso, translation is an indispensable tool for socioeconomic, political and cultural development. In this paper I propose to examine how multilingualism, which is at the origin of translation, is reflected in Burkinabè literature. Since literature is a fictional representation of reality, I shall examine the way literary communication mirrors this reality, i.e., the linguistic and cultural diversity of Burkina Faso. In addition, this paper goes beyond the classical and linguistic definitions of translation in terms of equivalence between target text and source text and claims that, to some extent, African writers qualify as translators. This is examplified by Fidèle P. Rouamba‘s novel Le Carnaval de la mort (“The carnival of death”, 1995).