Prizing Francophonie into Existence

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between literary prizes and the framing of contemporary francophone literature as world literature. Using a literary and sociological lens, I analyze how the Prix des Cinq Continents marketed itself as a kind of French-speaking Nobel, promoting the idea of a world literature in French. This article examines the prize’s different criteria for selection through close readings of promotional materials as well as interviews conducted between 2012 and 2016 with members of the jury, prize administrators, prize-winners, and representatives from the Senegalese reading committee. My research shows how the prize administrators’ rhetoric of diversity, hides the inequalities and exclusionary practices that “francophone” writers must face. This article argues that the idea of world literature has been recuperated by the OIF to protect the category of “francophone” and consolidate the domination of French cultural power in its former colonies.