From roots to routes
Double consciousness in the Francophone Caribbean novel
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6150671 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Margaret Heady (Eastern Washington University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 147-164 |
| Publication date | 2005-08-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal of Francophone Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1368-2679 • E-ISSN: 1758-9142 |
| Publisher | Intellect (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1386/ijfs.8.2.147/1 |
| OpenAlex | W1987055320 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
A comparative treatment of two twentieth-century Francophone Caribbean novelists, Jacques-Stephen Alexis of Haiti and Simone Schwarz-Bart of Guadeloupe, demonstrates how Caribbean authors have been using the discourse of the marvellous to move toward the creation of a sense of identity based on what Paul Gilroy calls a process of movement and mediation as opposed to a search for roots and rootedness. Alexis felt torn between what he perceived as his intellectual debt to Europe and his dedication to the development of a national Haitian literary form. His desire to transcend European literary influences is expressed in his work through issues of authenticity. Schwarz-Bart's work reflects more recent theories of Caribbean identity by demythologizing the very concept of the authentic origin. She uses the narrative technique of magic realism as a way of bringing together opposing discursive systems without evaluating them according to criteria of truth or authenticity. The result is a multiple voice which, like the larger voice of the Black Atlantic as a whole, can be described as a form of antiphony in which, in Gilroy's words, the original call is becoming harder to locate
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Consciousness · Epistemology · French · Humanities · Identity (music · Literature · Magic realism · Mediation · Narrative · National identity · Political science · Polyphony · Realism · Social science · Sociology · Anthropology · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Literature, Magical Realism, García Márquez · History · Law · Philosophy
| Highly cited | No |
|---|