Abstract
Since the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, a proliferation of fictional and non-fictional narratives has appeared, many of them claiming to represent the truth about what really happened in 1994. These include a small but significant number of Rwandan-authored novels which, this article suggests, invite the reader to accept what I call a “documentary pact”. While there is no single version of the truth about what happened in Rwanda, one of the common features of fictional responses to the genocide is an emphasis on truth claims. Drawing on examples of both fictional and non-fictional responses to the genocide, this essay discusses the implications of Rwandan authors’ insistence on the veracity of narratives that are sometimes difficult to believe. Emphasizing the importance for Rwandan writers, particularly survivors, of eliciting empathy from their readers, this essay will show that the documentary pact is an effective means of appealing to our shared human experience.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 199-215 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Australian Journal of French Studies |
| Volume | 56 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 11 Jul 2019 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 2019 |
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- Hitchcott_2019_AJFS_Truth_AAM
© 2019 Liverpool University Press. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created accepted version manuscript following peer review and as such may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.3828/ajfs.2019.15
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Nicola Marie Hitchcott
- French - Professor of French and African Studies
- School of Modern Languages - Head of the School of Modern Languages
- Centre for the Critical Reimagining of Human Rights
Person: Academic