Traces de terre, traces d'encre... La rappresentazione dello spazio nella letteratura caraibica. (Francofona e Anglofona)

This study concerns the representation of space in Caribbean literature, both francophone and Anglophone and, in particular, but not only, in the martinican literature, in the works of the authors born in the island. The analysis focus on the second half of the last century, a period in which the martinican production of novels and romances increased considerably, and where the representation and the rule of space had a relevant place. So, the thesis explores the literary modalities of this representation. The work is constituted of 5 chapters and the critical and methodological approaches are both of an analytical and comparative type. The first chapter †œThe caribbean space: geography, history and society†� presents the geographic context, through an analysis of the historical and political major events occurred in the Caribbean archipelago, in particular of the French Antilles, from the first colonization until the dà©partementalisation. The first paragraph †œThe colonized space: historical-political excursus†� the explores the history of the European colonization that marked forever the theatre of the relationship between Europe, Africa and the New World. This social situation take a long and complex process of †œRe-appropriation and renegotiation of the space†�, (second paragraph) always the space of the Other, that interest both the Antillean society and the writers' universe. So, a series of questions take place in the third paragraph †œLandscape and identity†�: what is the function of space in the process of identity construction? What are the literary forms and representations of space in the Caribbean context? Could the writing be a tool of cultural identity definition, both individual and collective? The second chapter †œThe literary representation of the Antillean space†� is a methodological analysis of the notions of literary space and descriptive gender. The first paragraph †œThe literary space of and in the novel†� is an excursus of the theory of such critics like Blanchot, Bachelard, Genette and Greimas, and in particular the recent innovation of the 20th century; the second one †œSpace of the Antilles, space of the writing†� is an attempt to apply this theory to the Antillean literary space. Finally the last paragraph †œSigns on the page: the symbolic places of the antillean novel landscape†� presents an inventory of the most recurrent antillean places (mornes, ravines, traces, cachots, En-ville,…), symbols of the history and the past, described in literary works, but according to new modalities of representation. The third chapter, the core of the thesis, †œRe-drawing the map of the French Antilles†� focused the study of space representation on francophone literature, in particular on a selected works of four martinican writers, like Roland Brival, à‰douard Glissant, Patrick Chamoiseau and Raphaà«l Confiant. Through this section, a spatial evolution comes out step by step, from the first to the second paragraph, whose titles are linked together †œThe novel space evolution: from the forest of the morne… to the jungle of the ville†�. The virgin and uncontaminated space of the Antilles, prior to the colonisation, where the Indios lived in harmony with the nature, find a representation in both works of Brival (Le sang du roucou, Le dernier des Aloukous) and of Glissant (Le Quatrià¨me sià¨cle, Ormerod). The arrival of the European colonizer brings a violent and sudden metamorphosis of the originary space and landscape, together with the traditions and culture of the Caraà¯bes population. These radical changes are visible in the works of Chamoiseau (Chronique des sept misà¨res, Texaco, L'esclave vieil homme et le molosse, Livret des villes du deuxià¨me monde, Un dimanche au cachot) and Confiant (Le Nà¨gre et l'Amiral, Eau de Cafà©, Ravines du devant-jour, Nà¨gre marron) that explore the urban space of the creole En-ville. The fourth chapter represents the †œ2nd step: the Anglophone novel space†� in the exploration of literary representation of space, through an analytical study of the works of three Anglophone writers, the 19th century Lafcadio Hearn (A Midsummer Trip To the West Indies, Two Years in the French West Indies, Youma) and the contemporary authors Derek Walcott (Omeros, Map of the New World, What the Twilight says) and Edward Kamau Brathwaite (The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy). The Anglophone voice of the Caribbean archipelago brings a very interesting contribution to the critical idea of a spatial evolution in the literary representation of space, started with francophone production: †œThe spatial evolution goes on: from the Martiniques Sketches of Hearn… to the modern bards of Caribbean archipelago†� is the new linked title of the two paragraphs. The fifth chapter †œExtended look, space shared: the Caribbean archipelago†� is a comparative analysis of the results achieved in the prior sections, through a dialogue between all the texts in the first paragraph †œFrancophone and Anglophone representation of space compared: differences and analogies†�. The last paragraph instead is an attempt of re-negotiate the conventional notions of space and place, from a geographical and physical meaning, to the new concept of †œcommonplace†�, not synonym of prejudice, but †œcommon place†� of sharing and dialogue. The question sets in the last paragraph †œThe †œcommonplaces†� of the physical and mental map of the Caribbean archipelago: toward a non-place?†� contains the critical idea of the entire thesis.