Introduction -- The African experience -- pt. I. Context -- Beginnings -- African initiatives -- The French connection -- pt. II. Confronting reality -- Liberation and postcolonial society -- Individual struggle -- pt. III. New identities -- Experimental narratives -- Exemplary tales -- pt. IV. The new millennium -- The post-independence generation -- Mahamat Saleh Haroun (Chad) -- Dani Kouyaté (Burkina Faso) -- Raja Amari (Tunisia) -- Faouzi Bensaidi (Morocco) -- Abderrahmane Sissako (Mauritania).