Trapped in the cane fields of Martinique, Adelise, delicate and flighty as a dragonfly, has found a way to keep her hard life separate from her secret soul. But when she is forced to move from her village to Fort-de-France, the island's unruly capital, and her aunt introduces her to the unsavory business of nightlife among the mulatto elite, Adelise must draw on ever more tenuous resources to remain free. Set against the politically charged backdrop of mid-twentieth-century Martinique, the story of this unlikely heroine's struggle unfolds in a language at once precise and enchanting, bringing to life both the inevitable harshness of life on Martinique and its inescapably lush beauty.
"Caribbean cities are a unique yet underexposed phenomenon. Their distinctiveness results from a combination of interrelated factors including a history of slavery, development under the hemispheric hegemony of the United States and spatial limitations imposed by the settings of most Caribbean urban areas." "This innovative volume presents a detailed introduction to the spatial, socio-cultural and economic characteristics of the Caribbean city, followed by case studies of selected cities in the Dutch, Hispanophone, Francophone and Anglophone Caribbean. It discusses a broad range of disciplinary approaches in examining the urban Caribbean, incorporating perspectives from anthropology, sociology, history, political science, geography and literary and cultural criticism."--BOOK JACKET.
The Caribbean is an exotic but not too distant land, full of rich cultural traditions. The literature of the Caribbean reflects the social, political, and cultural concerns of the region and is a valuable tool for learning about the area and its people. This book includes chapters on roughly a dozen contemporary Caribbean writers. Along with plot summaries, these sections discuss major themes and give close attention to how Caribbean culture figures in the writer's texts. To help students conduct further research, each chapter cites works for further reading.
Critical Perspectives on Conflict in Caribbean Societies of the Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries intervenes to enrich existing scholarship on postcolonial Caribbean literature and art. Using interdisciplinary, cultural studies and Caribbean cultural studies methodologies, in addition to more classical literary readings of works, this book adopts a fresh approach to conflict, bringing a variety of new perspectives to the analysis of conflict dynamics in the Caribbean. Focusing on issues of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, as well as on contemporary representation and analysis of conflict related to other periods in the development of Caribbean societies, this volume provides explorations of conflict in the Caribbean region, in the transnational relationships between this region and North America, and in the transcolonial relationships between the French Caribbean and France. This bi-lingual publication will particularly appeal to scholars and students of Caribbean Literature in English and French, Postcolonial and African Diasporic Literatures and Cultures, Feminist Literary Studies, and Contemporary Art Studies. Critical Perspectives on Conflict in Caribbean Societies of the Late 20th and Early 21st Centuries offers studies of recent fiction and works of art by established and emerging Caribbean writers and artists. In addition, as articles are dedicated to discussions of particular authors, such as Earl Lovelace, Ramabai Espinet, Edwidge Danticat, Raphaël Confiant, Patrick Chamoiseau, Gerty Dambury, and Gisèle Pineau, the range of perspectives found in this volume covers fiction published by male and female writers from both the Francophone and Anglophone Caribbean.
The Encyclopedia of Africa presents the most up-to-date and thorough reference on this region of ever-growing importance in world history, politics, and culture. Its core is comprised of the entries focusing on African history and culture from 2005's acclaimed five-volume Africana - nearly two-thirds of these 1,300 entries have been updated, revised, and expanded to reflect the most recent scholarship. Organized in an A-Z format, the articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religions, ethnic groups, organizations, and countries throughout Africa. There are articles on contemporary nations of sub-Saharan Africa, ethnic groups from various regions of Africa, and European colonial powers. Other examples include Congo River, Ivory trade, Mau Mau rebellion, and Pastoralism. The Encyclopedia of Africa is sure to become the essential resource in the field.
French novels such as "Madame Bovary" and "The Stranger" are staples of high school and college literature courses. This work provides coverage of the French novel since its origins in the 16th century, with an emphasis on novels most commonly studied in high school and college courses in world literature and in French culture and civilization.
This bilingual collection illustrates the concept of the 'Warrior of the Imaginary', as defined by Patrick Chamoiseau, in a multi-faceted corpus of texts. Francophone contributions explore the role of the Caribbean writer in works by Chamoiseau, Édouard Glissant, Daniel Maximin, and Joseph Zobel. Essays in English focus not only on familiar writers (Dionne Brand, Edwidge Danticat, Wilson Harris, Jamaica Kincaid, Caryl Phillips, Derek Walcott) but also on less widely studied voices (Robert Antoni, Albert Helman). Other contributions deal with such 'fighting areas' as Afro-Brazilian music, film, and Mutabaruka's militant poetry. The whole testifies to a surprisingly coherent imaginary, one that goes beyond the 'balkanization' of the Caribbean archipelago. Dans ce collectif bilingue, le concept de 'Guerrier de l'imaginaire' tel que défini par Patrick Chamoiseau est illustré par un corpus de textes variés. Plusieurs des articles en français engagent directement le cycle romanesque de l'auteur martiniquais, d'autres étendent l'interrogation de la fonction de l'auteur caribéen à l'écriture glissantienne, maximinienne et zobélienne. Études en anglais portent sur des écrivains dont le renom n'est plus à faire (Dionne Brand, Edwidge Danticat, Wilson Harris, Jamaica Kincaid, Caryl Phillips, Derek Walcott) mais donnent aussi la parole à des auteurs jusqu'à présent moins étudiés (Robert Antoni, Albert Helman). Enfin, quelques-unes des contributions portent sur d'autres 'terrains de lutte', comme la musique afro-brésilienne, le cinéma, ou la poésie militante de Mutabaruka. L'ensemble témoigne d'un imaginaire étonnamment confluant, au-delà de la 'balkanisation' de l'archipel caribéen.
What happens when the study of French is no longer coterminous with the study of France? French Civilization and Its Discontents explores the ways in which considerations of difference, especially colonialism, postcolonialism, and race, have shaped French culture and French studies in the modern era. Rejecting traditional assimilationist notions of French national identity, contributors to this groundbreaking volume demonstrate how literature, history, and other aspects of what is considered French civilization have been shaped by global processes of creolization and differentiation. This book ably demonstrates the necessity of studying France and the Francophone world together, and of recognizing not only the presence of France in the Francophone world but also the central place occupied by the Francophone world in world literature and history.
This much-needed guide to translated literature offers readers the opportunity to hear from, learn about, and perhaps better understand our shrinking world from the perspective of insiders from many cultures and traditions. In a globalized world, knowledge about non-North American societies and cultures is a must. Contemporary World Fiction: A Guide to Literature in Translation provides an overview of the tremendous range and scope of translated world fiction available in English. In so doing, it will help readers get a sense of the vast world beyond North America that is conveyed by fiction titles from dozens of countries and language traditions. Within the guide, approximately 1,000 contemporary non-English-language fiction titles are fully annotated and thousands of others are listed. Organization is primarily by language, as language often reflects cultural cohesion better than national borders or geographies, but also by country and culture. In addition to contemporary titles, each chapter features a brief overview of earlier translated fiction from the group. The guide also provides in-depth bibliographic essays for each chapter that will enable librarians and library users to further explore the literature of numerous languages and cultural traditions.
Ninety years after W.E.B. Du Bois first articulated the need for "the equivalent of a black Encyclopedia Britannica," Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr., realized his vision by publishing Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience in 1999. This new, greatly expanded edition of the original work broadens the foundation provided by Africana. Including more than one million new words, Africana has been completely updated and revised. New entries on African kingdoms have been added, bibliographies now accompany most articles, and the encyclopedia's coverage of the African diaspora in Latin America and the Caribbean has been expanded, transforming the set into the most authoritative research and scholarly reference set on the African experience ever created. More than 4,000 articles cover prominent individuals, events, trends, places, political movements, art forms, business and trade, religion, ethnic groups, organizations and countries on both sides of the Atlantic. African American history and culture in the present-day United States receive a strong emphasis, but African American history and culture throughout the rest of the Americas and their origins in African itself have an equally strong presence. The articles that make up Africana cover subjects ranging from affirmative action to zydeco and span over four million years from the earlies-known hominids, to Sean "Diddy" Combs. With entries ranging from the African ethnic groups to members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Africana, Second Edition, conveys the history and scope of cultural expression of people of African descent with unprecedented depth.
