This article offers a transversal crossing of a my PHD-thesis, devoted to the Encyclopaedic Temptation in Francophone Africa. Embracing an extensive chronology (from the 1920s to the present day), this paper constructs seven hypotheses about the polymath’s marginalized figure and the encyclopaedic practices he is led to develop in various scientific, artistic or literary contexts. Attempting to demonstrate that encyclopedism, which has been identified as a dominant feature of contemporary French fiction, also thrives in Africa, this article calls for a decompartmentalization of the French-speaking literary field.