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L'Existentialisme et la littérature swahili

This article discusses the relationship between existentialism, as a philosophical and literary movement, and Swahili literature. Next to programmatically existentialist novels, many literary texts can be qualified as implicitly existentialist, because they develop a definition of humanity based on experience rather than exterior, objective qualities. Existentialist theory also illuminates key concepts employed to analyze African literature in general. Many African literary texts have pursued “authenticity” - an “African essence” understood as a stable characteristic that can be theoretically fixed and then found in African literature. Existentialism undermines such views of “authenticity” by exposing its elusive nature.