Aza Ou Le N??re

Aza ou le N?gre is a slave novel that was published anonymously in 1792, during the French Revolution. It differs from other contemporaneous works like Jean-Fran?ois de Saint-Lambert's Zim?o and de Germaine de Sta?l's Mirza because, despite their advocacy for abolition, Zim?o and Mirza remain largely Eurocentric. By contrast, because it is largely narrated in the first person, Aza ou le N?gre makes for an Afrocentric fiction whence 'the White man' is markedly absent. In having its hero Aza return to his native Africa, this novel purports to envision an after-slavery locus. Aza ou le N?gre thus can be read in a post-modern perspective where an African hero takes his destiny into his own hands and turns his back on the West to offer his own Afrocentric solution to the issue of slavery. The book concludes with a seminal treatise that summarizes the Soci?t? des Amis des Noirs' ideology championed in Aza: ?tienne Clavi?re's Adresse de la Soci?t? des amis des noirs ? l'assembl?e nationale, dating from 1791 Lo?c Thommeret is lecturer in French at Oberlin College.