Negro-African literature in French is one of a number of appellations most commonly used to describe a body of literary texts written in French by Africans and those of African descent from roughly 1920 onward. Discussing the numerous other terms that have been used to designate the same body of texts (Colonial literature, Black literature, literature of Negritude), Jack explores the complex relationship between how literatures are named and how they are evaluated. The first thorough study of the history and criticism of Negro-African literature in French, this work gives an account of the development of a critical discourse and its influence on primary texts.