Further Development of the Tales of “l'enfant terrible”. (West Africa)

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  • 「悪童物語」の展開
  • アクドウ モノガタリ ノ テンカイ

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This article is entitled "Further Development", inacknowledgment of the analytical studies made by five FrenchScholars of this type of tale [GOROG et al. 1980].The tales of "l'enfant terrible", fundamentally differentfrom the tale type of "le Petit Poucet" occur only in West Africa.The hero (l'enfant terrible) is usually one of twin boys or a juniorof two brothers. Contrary to his brother who acts in conformitywith social norms, the hero commits successively all kinds ofcriminal acts, including, inter alia, murdering his parents,completely destroying the family possessions, damaging thescrotum of the blacksmith and killing the blacksmith's children(especially in the Bambara-Dolton tales), killing the animal whosaves the hero at the critical moment, and so ultimately theannihilation of the entire village. In short, the hero's actsare all contrary to the social norms of good conduct, but thiskind of tale is favored by the people.The five French scholars mentioned above all agree that"l'enfant terrible" is not a kind of trickster, largely because theydefine "trickster" in too narrow a sense. They appear to beincorrect in this, since a trickster can be defined as someone whopasses freely across the border between the reality of everydaylife and the supernatural order. In so doing, he (the trickster)permits us to see an another face of reality. "L'enfant terrible"is this kind of trickster.From the analyses of the meanings of the hero's position(a young brother), of his perverse acts (topsy-turviness), and ofdamaging of the scrotum of the blacksmith, I demonstrate thenature of our hero as a trickster.Finally, comparing "l'enfant terrible" to the witches inmedieval Europe, I conclude that we (the people) are in need ofa scapegoat to assuage our inner bad conscience. When wefail to recognize the real badness of society we make a scapegoatand hunt it (the witch). When the badness is played as a performanceof "l'enfant terrible", we savor it like .a tasty dish. Thetales of "l'enfant terrible" function as a catalyzer of the social orderas does the Potlatch of the American West Coast Indians.

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