Il pleut de l’exil by Aristide Tarnagda : a perfect example of a match between form and content

Abstract

This article attempts to identify the adequacy of form and content of the play Il pleut de l’exil from exile by Burkinabe playwright Aristide Tarnagda. The reflection articulating form and content of the piece from the angle of their adequacy mobilizes as a theoretical tool the literary stylistics of Léo Spitzer codified in his work Études de style (1979). Beyond the appropriation of form to content, the results obtained lift the veil on the innovations of contemporary African playwrights in general, and Aristide Tarnagda in particular. In this piece, Aristide Tarnagda presents migration and its harmful effects on the life of a young mixed race woman. He uses innovative writing that is well matched to the content to be conveyed. Throughout the piece, Aristide Tarnagda skillfully uses particular forms that highlight the miseries of mixed-race children, the fruit of migration. Tossed between two countries, two nations, two cultures, these children struggle to find a place in society. Wherever they are, they remain eternal strangers.