Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Senghor, Léopold Sédar - Janis L. Pallister （essay date April 1980）

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Janis L. Pallister （essay date April 1980）

SOURCE: “Léopold Sédar Senghor: A Catholic Sensibility?,” in French Review, Vol. LIII, No. 5, April, 1980, pp. 670-9.

[In the following essay, Pallister objects to critical interpretations of Senghor's poetry that emphasize the significance of symbolist, surrealist, and Roman Catholic influences in his work.]

It is arresting to note that many recent trends in Senghorian criticism, relying on a whole new set of critical clichés, should attempt to legitimize this great and fundamentally African poet by seeking to draw him into mainstream literature from France. Perhaps this is partially the product of another earlier critical strain that reproached Senghor the politician, Senghor the poet and Senghor the man for not being sufficiently African, while putting the whole concept of negritude and aggressive assimilation under attack. Now there seems to be a compulsion to make him sufficiently...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Newsweek （review date 27 July 1964）
   2. Gwendolyn Brooks （review date 13 September 1964）
   3. Robert W. July （review date 25 October 1964）
   4. O. R. Dathorne （essay date 1974）
   5. Lilyan Kesteloot （essay date 1974）
   6. Frederick Ivor Case （essay date 1975）
   7. Janis L. Pallister （essay date April 1980）
   8. Dorothy S. Blair （essay date 1984）
   9. Janet G. Vaillant （essay date 1990）
   10. Roger Shattuck and Samba Ka （review date 20 December 1990）
   11. K. Anthony Appiah （review date 5 July 1992）
   12. Isaac I. Elimimian （essay date 1994）
   13. Koffi Anyinefa （essay date Summer 1996）
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. African Literature