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EDOUARD GLISSANT has written extensively in French about the
colonial experience in the Caribbean. Since he is known
primarily as a novelist and poet, his theoretical essays
have so far remained largely unread by the English-language
theorists in this field. This book situates Glissant within
ongoing debates in postcolonial theory, making illuminating
connections between his work and that of Frantz Fanon,
Gayatri Spivak, Homi Bhabha, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Focusing on language and subjectivity, Edouard
Glissant and Postcolonial Theory moves between an
analysis of Glissant's theoretical work and detailed
readings of his novels to elucidate a network of related
issues. Celia Britton addresses the major themes central to
his writing--the reappropriation of history, standard and
vernacular language, hybridity, subalternity, the
problematizing of identity, and the colonial construction of
the Other--and asks provocative questions relating to each.
How does the colonized subject relate to a language
initially imposed by the colonizer but subsequently, to some
extent, subverted and reappropriated? How does this
strategic use of language come to function as a crucial mode
of cultural resistance? What role can fictional
representation play in this process?
This book represents the first presentation of Glissant's
incisive theoretical work and analysis of his immensely
powerful and subtle novels in the context of postcolonial
studies. By juxtaposing them, Britton illuminates the
significant contribution Glissant has made to this
theoretical endeavor.
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