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Marvelous Journeys explores the transition from a modernist to a postmodernist consciousness in twentieth-century Caribbean writings on identity that is reflected through a corresponding evolution in the use of the marvelous as a literary tool. For the three novelists who are the focus of this study - Jacques-Stephen Alexis, Alejo Carpentier, and Simone Schwarz-Bart - the discourse of the marvelous offers a uniquely Caribbean vehicle for capturing an elusive Caribbean "essence" as well as for coming to terms with the seemingly contradictory demands of a Parisian intellectual formation and an authentic Caribbean sensibility.
This book engages with recent debates in criticism and theory and will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers interested in Francophone literature, Caribbean studies, and literary and postcolonial theory. It contributes to the burgeoning field of Caribbean literary studies by adopting a transcultural approach to a neglected but increasingly important area of study: the circulation of ideas and influences among the Hispanic and Francophone Caribbean islands and the African and European continents.
About the author
The Author: Margaret Heady is Associate Professor of French at Eastern Washington University. She holds a Ph.D. in French literature from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Her research focuses on the Francophone Caribbean novel and literary and postcolonial theory. She has published in
The International Journal of Francophone Studies,
Etudes Francophones, and
French Literature Series.
