SOURCE: “Outfoxing the Fox: Game Strategy in Le Devoir de violence,” in Perspectives on Contemporary Literature, Vol. 6, 1980, pp. 72-79.

In the following essay, Schikora analyzes aspects of various games and challenges in correlation to Ouologuem's Le Devoir de violence.

When Ouologuem's Le Devoir de violence appeared in 1968, it was enthusiastically received by those who had been awaiting with some impatience the first “authentically African” novel.¹ (It was subsequently awarded the coveted Prix Renaudot.) This fascinating and controversial novel offers solid evidence on several levels of game strategy at play, both in the overall design and in the detailed execution of the work. Taking as our point of departure the author's dual, anti-histoire objective, we shall focus primarily on the manner in which he “plays with” the conventional notions of history and fiction.

The key to understanding the dynamics of this work lies in the author's thinly camouflaged...