L'Enfant noir

From NECTFL Review #62 (Spring/Summer)

These editions are meant to provide students with a smooth transition from the study of language to the study of literature. As a matter of fact, they oftentimes provide a bridge that leads imperceptibly from one to the other (this is particularly true in the case of L’enfant noir, the story of a boy’s youth told with meticulous contextualization, considerable repetition, and constant rephrasing — characteristic techniques of the oral storytelling tradition).... [T]he Focus Student Edition of L’enfant noir is currently the best available. It has great merit. AP and non-AP teachers of Francophone literature should not hesitate to adopt it.

— J. Vincent H. Morrissette, Fairfield University

The Focus Student Editions are designed for French language courses in literature and culture. Prepared with non-native French speakers in mind, these editions include an introduction (in French), the complete work, and linguistic and cultural notes in French, a current bibliography and study questions.

A masterwork of modern francophone African literature, L’enfant noir has the artistry of a novel and the authenticity of an autobiography.  This prizewinning 1954 tale describes the narrator’s journey from childhood in Kouroussa, in northwestern Guinea, to France, and the conflict of sacred traditions with the ways of the modern world.