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GENDER RELATIONSHIPS AS REPRESENTED IN FRENCH CARIBBEAN LITTERATURE

GENDER RELATIONSHIPS AS REPRESENTED IN FRENCH CARIBBEAN LITTERATURE

{{Book Review The French Review}}

Thomas, Bonnie, {Breadfruit or Chestnut? Gender Construction in the French Caribbean Novel}. Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronto, Oxford: Lexington Books, 2006. ISBN-13 978-0-7391-1583-1. ISBN-10 0-7391-1583-9. Pp. 201. $60.00

In {Breadfruit or Chestnut? Gender Construction in the French Caribbean Novel} Bonnie Thomas aptly scrutinises key concepts of gender relationships as represented in French Caribbean literature from Edouard Glissant’s early work of the 1960s over Simone Schwarz-Bart’s, Maryse Condé’s as well as Raphaël Confiant’s and Patrick Chamoiseau’s novels to contemporary writing by Gisèle Pineau. Her thorough textual analyses are set against the backdrop of the history of slavery and colonialism on the one hand and feminist, especially objects-relations (Nancy Chodorow and Dorothy Dinnerstein) and ‘womanist’ (Alice Walker) thought on the other. Thomas brings to the fore the great variety and complexity of gender roles and gender identities in French Caribbean societies as represented in the literature from this region. Tracing the evolution of gender identities she argues that in most novels by male and female writers masculinity tends to be portrayed in terms of weakness and femininity in terms of strength and relates these seemingly unconventional associations to men’s and women’s different reactions towards the legacy of slavery and colonialism that still marks French Caribbean societies. The leading motive for her textual analysis is based on the Creole proverb ‘Man is a breadfruit and woman is a chestnut’, which provides, at the same time, the principal focus of her comparison of Simone Schwarz-Bart’s novel {Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle} (1972) and Maryse Condé’s {Moi, Tituba, sorcière… noire de Salem} (1986) in the third chapter. As this proverb indicates, male fictional personae tend to be represented as weak and easily faltering, whereas femininity is frequently associated with courage and strength of character, which is often reinforced by the ability to face and overcome major obstacles in life. Even as all the writers whose work is discussed in the study portray certain gender stereotypes such as the notion of the {femme matador} and the macho and, at the same time, irresponsible and immature ‘philandering’ Caribbean man (p. 54), they interrogate these representations in different ways. As Thomas highlights, woman writers like Maryse Condé and Gisèle Pineau emphasize the fluidity of social constructions of gender identities by merging masculine and feminine characteristics within their fictional {personae}. Thomas subtly establishes a link between the hybridity of gender and the context of cultural heterogeneity in French Caribbean societies and shows the extent to which the transgression of gender stereotypes suggests a gradual overcoming of the trauma of history and a moving on to writing that focuses on the present and, in Condé’s case, even on the future. As her study shows and as some of the authors interviewed confirm, the male writers Edouard Glissant, Patrick Chamoiseau and Raphaël Confiant are far more centred on the past then the women writers discussed in the book.

The book is structured thematically and divided into seven chapters. The first two chapters provide the literary and socio-historical context of the evolution of French Caribbean writing as well as the theoretical background of gender discussions. The following five thematic chapters discuss specific gender motives in a juxtaposition of two selected novels each. While Thomas centres her attention on the mostly female protagonist(s) of each novel, she also accounts for the gender roles of various other male and female characters, thus avoiding any one-sided categorisation of gender.

The chapter in which Thomas examines Edouard Glissant’s novels ({Le Quatrième Siècle} (1964) and {La Case du commandeur} (1997)) focuses on the influence of history on gender relations. According to the author these texts address most explicitly the intersection of the history of the ‘Plantation Universe’ (Glissant) and gender roles. As her close readings of illuminating passages of the novels and her meticulous analysis of various characters reveal, women are represented as being more capable of overcoming difficulties of the past than men, who, as Thomas argues, are ‘propelled by the greater power of history, which compels them into patterns of irresponsible behaviour no longer appropriate to the postcolonial context’ (p. 82). Thomas points out the link between individual women and female solidarity, highlighting the fact that the sense of community helps them to brave challenges posed by Caribbean history and society.

History remains an important backdrop in the novels discussed in the following chapter – {Texaco} (1992) by Patrick Chamoiseau and {Les Derniers Rois mages} (1992) by Maryse Condé. However, the discussion of gender now moves on to the exploration of different representations of the powerful French Caribbean woman, the {femme matador}. Chamoiseau underscores women’s capacity of resistance and of gaining strength from adversaries and obstacles, whereas Condé portrays and, at the same time, challenges the image of the {femme matador}.
While Thomas pays attention not only to the context of the novels discussed but also to the narrative structures and the underlying tone throughout her study, chapter six is devoted entirely to the satirical quality of {Solibo Magnifique} (1988) by Patrick Chamoiseau and {Eau de Café} (1991) by Raphaël Confiant. The focus in this chapter is on the role and influence of gender in everyday life; Thomas analyses the extent to which gender stereotypes and past and present gender relations are challenged in the novels through satire.

Having scrutinised various prominent gender types and their nuancing and challenging by the different French Caribbean writers, Thomas concludes her close readings with a juxtaposition of two novels by Gisèle Pineau, {La Grande Drive des Esprits} (1993) and {L’Espérance-macadam} (1995). This woman writer stands out among her colleagues through her individual, unconventional approach towards gender identities. Pineau moves away from gender stereotypes to a greater extent than the writers whose fiction Thomas discusses in chapters three to six. In her novels Pineau satirises what may seem like stereotypical gender roles on the surface (the promiscuous man and the {femme matador}) and thus provides a highly complex image of gender identities, which are characterised by a melding of and fluidity between masculine and feminine qualities.

Through her in-depth investigation of prominent French Caribbean novels Thomas re-evaluates the interplay of history, society and gender, thereby revealing the great array of nuanced representations of gender identities and their development. Her literary interpretations are bolstered by her incorporation of interview excerpts with Patrick Chamoiseau, Maryse Condé and Raphaël Confiant in appendices. {Breadfruit or Chestnut? Gender Construction in the French Caribbean Novel} is a thorough and well-argued study and a valuable scholarly contribution to current debates – in politics and the arts – about history, hybridity and gender.

_ Universiteit Antwerpen
_ Angela Brüning

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