Les contraintes de l'écriture à double entente

By analysing the number of Romulus the talking horse in Impressions d’Afrique, this article shows that behind the apparent text hides an underlying text which is readable, significant, and comic, and which amplifies and modifies its initial reading. Contrary to what Roussel says of his « process », it is this doubled-up writing, and not the composition of the apparent text, which is based on diverse types of word play (polysemy, homophony, etc.) as well as on various cultural references.