Occultic Practices in Appolinaire Zodékon-Eleceis’ Novel Mariage Impossible

Abstract

In African tradition, occultic practice is a recurring phenomenon in our different societies. Being conscious of different types of occultic powers in African tradition, the invocation of these spiritual forces by the author of Mariage Impossible could be exploited for different purposes. This paper aims to understand the reasons Africans most often engage in occultic practices and also seeks to analyse the different manifestations and consequences of these practices in Zodékon-Eleceis' Mariage Impossible. To achieve this, we have been inspired by the literary theory of occulticism. Occultism is the belief in the existence of suprasensory realities that could be perceptible through methods of occult sciences; it is the set of occult sciences and practices associated with them. However, the analysis of Zodékon-Eleceis' novel enables the reader to distinguish the merit and demerit of the practices of occultic powers and make a choice as per the perpetuation of these practices in different contemporary African societies.