A Study of War-Trauma in David Diop's Novel At Night All Blood is Black

Through close reading of At Night All Blood is Black - Anna Moschovakis' translation of David Diop’s French novel Frère d’âme, this paper intends to critically engage with Diop’s depiction of the psychological toll of the violence of war on Senegalese soldiers representing the imperial French army in WW1. French generals utilise the Senegalese tirailleurs’ unmatched bravery, brute strength, unquestioning loyalty, and habit of mutilating the bodies of opponents to terrorise the Germans. But when, after witnessing the painful death of his “more than brother” Mademba in war, the narrator-protagonist Alfa determines to subvert his commanding officer’s tactic of calculated calibration of African savagery, the result is a gradual loss of sanity, due to the combined effects of trauma and survivor guilt. Rather than depicting a simplistic heroic portrait, Diop puts emphasis on the vulnerability of the Senegalese youth, dragged into a European battle where he undergoes a trauma-induced transformation. The paper undertakes qualitative research in the form of textual criticism, employing a critical study of the novel to show how the novel addresses several aspects of trauma, madness, colonialism, and the history of colonial conscripts in WW1.