Countermodernism and Francophone Literary Culture

The Game of Slipknot

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Central & South American, French, European
Cover of the book Countermodernism and Francophone Literary Culture by Keith L. Walker, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Keith L. Walker ISBN: 9780822379188
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: August 1, 2012
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: Keith L. Walker
ISBN: 9780822379188
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: August 1, 2012
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

Keith L. Walker traverses the traditionally imposed boundaries of geography and race as he examines the literary culture produced by French speakers and writers born outside France. Focusing on the commonalities revealed in their shared language and colonial history, Walker examines for the first time the work of six writers who, while artistically distinct and geographically scattered, share complex sensibilities regarding their own relationship to France and the French language and, as he demonstrates, produce a counterdiscourse to their colonizers’ modern literary traditions.
Martinique, French Guyana, Senegal, Morocco, and Haiti serve as the stage for the struggle these writers have faced with French language and culture, a struggle influenced by the legacy of Aimé Césaire. In his stand against the modernist principles of Charles Baudelaire, Walker argues, Césaire has become the preeminent francophone countermodernist. A further examination of the relationships between Césaire and the writers Léon Gontron Damas, Mariama Bâ, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Ken Bugul, and Gérard Étienne forms the core of the book and leads to Walker’s characterization of francophone literature as having “slipped the knot,” or escaped the snares of the familiar binary oppositions of modernism. Instead, he discovers in these writers a shared consciousness rooted in an effort to counter and denounce modernist humanist discourse and pointing toward a new subjectivity formed through the negotiation of an alternative modernity.
Countermodernism and Francophone Literary Culture will engage readers interested in French literature and in postcolonial, Caribbean, African, American, and francophone studies.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Keith L. Walker traverses the traditionally imposed boundaries of geography and race as he examines the literary culture produced by French speakers and writers born outside France. Focusing on the commonalities revealed in their shared language and colonial history, Walker examines for the first time the work of six writers who, while artistically distinct and geographically scattered, share complex sensibilities regarding their own relationship to France and the French language and, as he demonstrates, produce a counterdiscourse to their colonizers’ modern literary traditions.
Martinique, French Guyana, Senegal, Morocco, and Haiti serve as the stage for the struggle these writers have faced with French language and culture, a struggle influenced by the legacy of Aimé Césaire. In his stand against the modernist principles of Charles Baudelaire, Walker argues, Césaire has become the preeminent francophone countermodernist. A further examination of the relationships between Césaire and the writers Léon Gontron Damas, Mariama Bâ, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Ken Bugul, and Gérard Étienne forms the core of the book and leads to Walker’s characterization of francophone literature as having “slipped the knot,” or escaped the snares of the familiar binary oppositions of modernism. Instead, he discovers in these writers a shared consciousness rooted in an effort to counter and denounce modernist humanist discourse and pointing toward a new subjectivity formed through the negotiation of an alternative modernity.
Countermodernism and Francophone Literary Culture will engage readers interested in French literature and in postcolonial, Caribbean, African, American, and francophone studies.

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book Catholic Lives, Contemporary America by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South Korea by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Foundlings by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Animals and Women by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Specters of the Atlantic by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Narrating the Past by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Sounds of Crossing by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book The Day of Shelly's Death by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Bringing the Empire Back Home by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book The Monster in the Machine by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Animate Planet by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book The Cord Keepers by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Between Colonialism and Diaspora by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Queer Activism in India by Keith L. Walker
Cover of the book Every Last Tie by Keith L. Walker
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy