Tales Of Possession And Dispossession

This paper looks at loss and grief in Edwidge Danticat’s novel Claire of the Sea Light (2013) through analyzing how absence is configured within the aesthetic of the novel. I show how the interwoven stories within the text form a narrative economy where people trade memories and emotions amongst the...

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Main Author: Elsa Charléty
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte" 2018-11-01
Series:Sillages Critiques
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/7518
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author Elsa Charléty
author_facet Elsa Charléty
author_sort Elsa Charléty
collection DOAJ
description This paper looks at loss and grief in Edwidge Danticat’s novel Claire of the Sea Light (2013) through analyzing how absence is configured within the aesthetic of the novel. I show how the interwoven stories within the text form a narrative economy where people trade memories and emotions amongst themselves in order to cope with the void left by the departed. Drawing on Edwidge Danticat’s writings, as well as anthropological research in Haiti and theories of loss and grief in literary criticism, I show that Edwidge Danticat’s prose, while constantly negotiating the space between the collective and the individual, creates a language of exchange around the notion of absence. A polyphonic aesthetic of absence emerges from these exchanges to transform individual pain into collective memory.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1272-3819
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language English
publishDate 2018-11-01
publisher Centre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"
record_format Article
series Sillages Critiques
spelling doaj-art-a4246b4fae0c4cfab0c6174e5fd7c4af2025-01-30T13:47:03ZengCentre de Recherche "Texte et Critique de Texte"Sillages Critiques1272-38191969-63022018-11-012510.4000/sillagescritiques.7518Tales Of Possession And DispossessionElsa CharlétyThis paper looks at loss and grief in Edwidge Danticat’s novel Claire of the Sea Light (2013) through analyzing how absence is configured within the aesthetic of the novel. I show how the interwoven stories within the text form a narrative economy where people trade memories and emotions amongst themselves in order to cope with the void left by the departed. Drawing on Edwidge Danticat’s writings, as well as anthropological research in Haiti and theories of loss and grief in literary criticism, I show that Edwidge Danticat’s prose, while constantly negotiating the space between the collective and the individual, creates a language of exchange around the notion of absence. A polyphonic aesthetic of absence emerges from these exchanges to transform individual pain into collective memory.https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/7518absencetraumadiasporaAfrican-American literatureCaribbean folkloreCarribbean literature
spellingShingle Elsa Charléty
Tales Of Possession And Dispossession
Sillages Critiques
absence
trauma
diaspora
African-American literature
Caribbean folklore
Carribbean literature
title Tales Of Possession And Dispossession
title_full Tales Of Possession And Dispossession
title_fullStr Tales Of Possession And Dispossession
title_full_unstemmed Tales Of Possession And Dispossession
title_short Tales Of Possession And Dispossession
title_sort tales of possession and dispossession
topic absence
trauma
diaspora
African-American literature
Caribbean folklore
Carribbean literature
url https://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/7518
work_keys_str_mv AT elsacharlety talesofpossessionanddispossession