Reclaiming `Paradise Lost' in the Writings of Patrick Chamoiseau and Edouard Glissant

Abstract

This article considers the paradisiacal image of the French Caribbean island of Martinique, focusing in particular on the writing of two contemporary authors, Patrick Chamoiseau and Edouard Glissant. Beginning with the obvious exotic associations of Martinique in metropolitan France, and the Western world at large, and drawing on anti-colonialist theory, I argue that increasing levels of tourism in a global world can in fact be read as a form of neo-colonisation. Within this context, the role of the French Caribbean writer is perceived by both Chamoiseau and Glissant to be crucial in resisting this dominating, globalising force. I will demonstrate how the authors turn to their native landscape in their writing — and to the liminal space of the beach in particular — to combat this form of neo-colonisation.