© Swansea University 2010 DOI 10.
1179/026399010X12645114972251
romance studies, Vol.
28 No.
2, April, 2010, 106–17
Léopold Sédar Senghor’s Translations
and the Trajectory of a World Writer
Kathleen Shields
National University of Ireland, Maynooth,...
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© Swansea University 2010 DOI 10.
1179/026399010X12645114972251
romance studies, Vol.
28 No.
2, April, 2010, 106–17
Léopold Sédar Senghor’s Translations
and the Trajectory of a World Writer
Kathleen Shields
National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Ireland
Senghor’s seldom-studied translations (grouped with his juvenilia and
published in Œuvre poétique in 1964) illustrate a process of identity formation whereby he can variously represent France, Senegal, Africa, and poetry,
ultimately coming to occupy a position as world writer.
My analysis of these
texts takes into account recent articles on translation and African writers:
what did Senghor translate, how did he translate, why did he translate,
and why did he stop translating? Strategies of universalizing, flattening,
and mystification reveal a process of acculturation rather than cultural crossfertilization.
Central to my argument is the contrast between Senghor’s
concept of métissage and the more current use of the term as Antoi
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