Abstract
This paper discusses the relationships between reportage and literature in Jean Hatzfeld's Rwandan trilogy (Dans le nu de la vie, Une saison de machettes and La Stratégie des antilopes). By collecting testimonies, the writer claims a clear break with his former practice as reporter, setting in La Stratégie des antilopes the “direct line” of journalism against the “sinuous line” of literature. This paper aims to question this evolution according to three aspects: how Jean Hatzfeld invents an ethic based on listening and a poetic of indirect testimony throughout the trilogy; how reception complexifies the gap between reportage and literature; how the books redefine the relationships between politics and literary reportage.