FORUM.(Review)

August 12, 1999

Dear Editor:

Lynne Rienner Publishers recently published a volume, Yambo Ouologuem: Postcolonial Writer, Islamic Militant, edited by Christopher Wise. The volume includes Wise's piece (reprinted from RAL) on his recent contacts with Ouologuem and numerous other essays, mostly reprinted. Taken together, the book thus presents a history of the reception of Ouologuem since 1968 along with current interpretations, most notably Wise's own; it is therefore a significant addition to scholarship on this author.

In looking through Wise's volume for the first time, I was very surprised to see that it included a reprint of my preliminary article on Ouologuem, "Trait d'union: Injunction and Dismemberment in Yambo Ouologuem's Le Devoirde violence," published in L'Esprit createur 23.4 (Winter 1983). This article was later superseded by the full version of my work on Ouologuem that appeared in my book Blank Darkness (Chicago: U of Chicago P, …