‘The Body as a Stage for Human Relationships‘: A Literary Perspective by Togolese Writer Sami Tchak

Posted September 4Sep 4

By Filip Noubel, Jean Sovon, Jean-Christophe Brunet

Francophone literature from Africa faces a dual challenge. On the continent, the prohibitive cost of imported books means that access to texts remains a privilege, while publishing in Africa also faces many obstacles, such as high production costs, poor distribution systems, and linguistic fragmentation.

In the francophone countries of Europe, recognition of African literature, flourishing today and with roots stretching back to the 19th century, has come only relatively recently, as they were long subordinated to texts written by Europeans within a perspective shaped by colonial legacies. Early pioneers such as Léopold Sédar Senghor secured a place for it in Europe and across the world in the 1960s, and since then, writers like the Senegalese author Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, whose 2021 Goncourt Prize highlighted the vitality and richness of francophone African literatures, have carried it forward.

Events like the Paris African Book Fair and the new Rive Noire Literature Festival, featured in this TV5 Monde video, are helping to make francophone African literature more visible and more accessible in France:

The decision to end the Orange Book Prize in Africa in 2024, created in 2019 to support writers and publishers working on the continent, shocked many authors when it was announced and underlines the fragility of such structures.

In an email interview, Global Voices asked Togolese writer Sami Tchak, who is also appearing at the Saint-Malo literary festival Étonnants Voyageurs (Surprising Travellers), how he defines and develops his francophone writing.

Born in Togo in 1960, Sami Tchak, the pen name of Sadamba Tcha-Koura, began his career as a primary school teacher before going on to study philosophy and sociology in both Togo and France. In 2001, he published the iconoclastic novel “Place des Fêtes,” which brought him recognition in the francophone literary world for its exploration of sexuality. He went on to travel in Latin America, which became the source of inspiration for several of his novels. His many works include “Al Capone le Malien,” “La couleur de l’écrivain,” “Les Fables du Moineau,” and “Profaner Ananda,” co-written with Annie Ferret.

Global Voices (GV): Would you describe your journey as that of an exile, a traveller between continents, or a curious spirit that refuses to look from above and instead searches for a more horizontal view?

Sami Tchak (ST): None of the situations you mention applies to me. I am not an exile. I arrived in France with a study grant provided by my country, chose to make my life here after completing my studies, and return to Togo every year as often as I can and want to. Back home, I am regarded by some Togolese as one of the writers whose names are associated with national pride. So I am not an exile but a man living freely outside his own country. That is not the same thing. Nor do I define myself as a traveller. I am simply, like many other men and women in the literary world, a writer fortunate enough to be invited to conferences. I do not have the means to live as a traveller. I only travel when I am invited and my expenses are covered, and wherever I go, I barely have the chance to see anything beyond the spaces where the literary events take place. Travelling for work is not the same as living the life of a traveller.

I am a curious man, as many people on this earth are, and also because writing requires us to pay close attention to the world, to nurture a desire to learn, to discover and to enrich the imagination. Yet this curiosity is not in any sense an attempt to pursue horizontality over verticality. In all the books where I address verticality, I do so as an observation and try to understand what it implies for our lives and, above all, for our ways of thinking.

GV: Your exploration of the body and of sexuality has offered another perspective on the African experience. In what sense is this focus on the body both revealing and essential?

ST: I am not sure what the African experience is supposed to mean, and I doubt there is anyone in the world who could explain what such an experience would involve. In what terms could it be defined? Historical, religious, political? To me, the idea of an African experience seems like an excessive essentialisation, which I portray in my novel “Le continent du Tout et du presque Rien.” This essentialisation reduces the complexity of a continent, together with the diversity of its peoples, cultures and experiences, to a generalised idea based on the shared destinies produced by colonisation.

The body is also an essential element in all literature, but what matters, I believe, is the way each writer depicts and explores it. For me, the body, and sexuality above all, serve as a stage for human relationships and as a way of giving substance to philosophical reflections and to a vision of the world. This reflects a personal approach that others are free to interpret as they wish, as do those who devote their theses to my work.

GV: Can literature be defined by its language or geography? Are you a francophone author, a Togolese author, an author from francophone Africa, or one without borders?

ST: I addressed these issues in a book entitled “La couleur de l’écrivain.” In my view, it is our specific position as writers from colonized peoples who use the language of the colonizer that accounts for this kind of questioning, which has been raised for more than a hundred years. I am a Togolese living in France, and I write in French. I do not define myself as a francophone author, nor as an author without borders, but as a Togolese writer who writes in French.

Even so, I realize that saying this does not stop such recurring questions, which have nothing to do with literature or with my approach as a writer. Still, I believe it is more useful to read authors whenever possible and to question them on the basis of their books. General questions do not allow for a genuine discussion of literature, nor do they help to bring a particular writer to light.

GV: Which authors from francophone Africa, in your view, have most contributed, or are still contributing today, to the visibility and originality of francophone African literatures?

ST: Literary experts would be better placed to give an intelligent answer to that question. For my part, I am aware that the visibility of some African authors, writing in French, English, Portuguese… is shaped by the European and American literary gatekeepers.

In this YouTube video, Tchak talks about the relationships he maintains with his publishers:

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The post ‘The Body as a Stage for Human Relationships‘: A Literary Perspective by Togolese Writer Sami Tchak appeared first on The Good Men Project.

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