Synopses & Reviews
EDOUARD GLISSANT has written extensively in French about thecolonial experience in the Caribbean. Since he is known primarily as a novelist andpoet, his theoretical essays have so far remained largely unread by theEnglish-language theorists in this field. This book situates Glissant within ongoingdebates in postcolonial theory, making illuminating connections between his work andthat of Frantz Fanon, Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Henry Louis GatesJr.
Focusing on language and subjectivity, EdouardGlissant and Postcolonial Theory moves between an analysis of Glissant's theoreticalwork and detailed readings of his novels to elucidate a network of related issues.Celia Britton addresses the major themes central to his writing--the reappropriationof history, standard and vernacular language, hybridity, subalternity, theproblematizing of identity, and the colonial construction of the Other--and asksprovocative questions relating to each. How does the colonized subject relate to alanguage initially imposed by the colonizer but subsequently, to some extent, subverted and reappropriated? How does this strategic use of language come tofunction as a crucial mode of cultural resistance? What role can fictionalrepresentation play in this process?
This bookrepresents the first presentation of Glissant's incisive theoretical work andanalysis of his immensely powerful and subtle novels in the context of postcolonialstudies. By juxtaposing them, Britton illuminates the significant contributionGlissant has made to this theoretical endeavor.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [215]-220) and index.