The Africa of Alain Mabanckou does not result from the contradictions inherent in living between two worlds and two cultures, as it did for his predecessors. In Mabanckou's novels, the image of the Black Continent evokes a whole set of clichés and stereotypes, despite his stated intentions. The author partially forges these stereotypes “from the outside,” sketching his Africa by using an immediate present and affecting to ignore things while artfully drawing attention to them. He does this because Africa's image has been “reworked” through a “White” use of language and signs belonging to a TV or computer screen and information-oriented society. African authenticity and identity are not only an effect of his writing, however. They are also a product of a discourse that makes signifiers act as though they are understood first as a true expression of political, social, cultural realities - expressions then easily validated by the media and book market.