Stylistics of Abiku, of Mwènè or the Isotopies of Fire and Air in L’Ame Blessée d’un Eléphant Noir by Mwènè Gabriel Okoundji

Abstract

The concepts of Abiku in yoruba language and Mwènè in tegue language (Congo Brazzaville) have many significations and use, according to the authors. In Mwènè Gabriel Okoundji, their use wins values which put them in an edifying relationship with the four elements of nature. On this basis, L’âme blessée d’un éléphant noir appears as a gnomic work whose four poems seem to symbolize the four fundamental elements of nature that Abiku and Mwènè are the cruciferous and/or six figures. The poet allegorizes the four cosmic figures (Fire, Air, Water, Earth) and plays with the elliptisation of the two formers. So, it’s interesting to know how those various symbols contribute to the elaboration of the six figures. Does the number 6 intervene in the four figures to link together the worlds and to set an homeostasy, an ataraxia? The stylistic analysis borrowed from François Rastier here is applied to numeroligical and universal myths, to the use of pronouns, and to the punctuation in order to read the Seal of Solomon.