Ce mémoire de master traite la question du genre littéraire du roman Petit Pays (2016) de Gaël Faye. Située dans les années 1990, au temps de la guerre civile au Burundi et du génocide rwandais, l'action du roman suit l'histoire de Gabriel, un enfant d'origine franco-rwandaise, qui est censé de grandir dans les circonstances malheureuses et violentes. Puisque le roman Petit Pays parle des troubles de la formation dans le contexte de guerre, ainsi que des conséquences que le personnage principal confronte plus tard en tant qu'un adulte, ce roman sera analysé en tant qu'un roman d'initiation afin de pouvoir constater son appartenance générique. Au-delà de l'analyse du roman, ce mémoire est composé également du cadre théorique. Dans cette première partie du mémoire, nous illustrons l'histoire complexe du Burundi et du Rwanda suivie par la représentation du roman d'initiation dans le contexte de plusieurs traditions littéraires, comme anglaise, américaine, allemande et croate. Ovim se diplomskim radom obrađuje pitanje pripadnosti književnom žanru romana Gaëla Fayea Mala Zemlja iz 2016. godine. Radnja romana smještena je u devedesete godine 20. stoljeća za vrijeme građanskog rata u Burundiji i genocida u Ruandi te ona prati priču o Gabrielu, djetetu francusko-ruandskog podrijetla, koje je prisiljeno odrastati u nesretnim i nasilnim okolnostima. Budući da roman Mala Zemlja problematizira odrastanje u kontekstu rata, kao i posljedice takvog odrastanja s kojima se glavni lik suočava kasnije u odrasloj dobi, ovaj se roman analizira kao roman odrastanja kako bi u konačnici mogli utvrditi njegov književni žanr. Osim analize romana, ovaj rad se sastoji i od teorijskog dijela. U prvom dijelu rada ilustrira se složena povijest Burundije i Ruande nakon čega slijedi prikaz romana o odrastanju u kontekstu nekoliko književnih tradicija poput engleske, američke, njemačke i hrvatske. This thesis deals with the issue of determining the literary genre of Gael Faye's novel Small Country published in 2016. The plot of the novel is set in the 1990s during the civil war in Burundi and the genocide in Rwanda and it follows the story of Gabriel, a child of French-Rwandan origin, who is forced to grow up in unfortunate and violent circumstances. Since the novel Small country problematizes growing up in the context of war, as well as the consequences that the main character faces later in adulthood, this novel is analyzed as a coming of age novel so that its literary genre can ultimately be determined. In addition to the analysis of the novel, this thesis also consists of a theoretical part. The first part of the thesis illustrates the complex history of Burundi and Rwanda, followed by a presentation of the coming of age novel in the context of several literary traditions such as English, American, German and Croatian.