An interstitial space between the real and the fictitious, Horodougou, at least its representation in The Suns of Independence by Ahmadou Kourouma, is the place where Fama Doumbouya, faced with the many difficulties of everyday life in the “capital”, rediscovers honor and happiness. That he should never have lost because of his princely origins. The great gap that exists between the image of this miserable character in the big city where the « sons of bastards » reign and that of a Malinké prince respected and venerated on the land of origin of his ancestors in Horodougou, confers an improving function to the encompassing space of the Mandingo and makes it a place of full development for him. This article attempts to describe these “little moments of happiness” which animate the character in this novel and which have a considerable impact on his psychology. From where the deduction that the feeling of happiness can also be the consequence of the type of relation which the individual maintains with an intimate space.
Keywords: Representation – Horodougou – space – happiness – Mandingo – novel.