Au delà de la résistance : la littérature franco-antillaise face au passé colonial et à la mondialisation

Beyond the resistance – French West Indian’s literature facing the colonial past and globalization Our aim in this paper is to analyze the different stances taken by four eminent authors from the French Antilles – Aimé Césaire, René Ménil, Édouard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau – with regards to the socio-cultural situation of the region. Their literary projects work out the term “resistance” by means of different concepts and artistic gestures. The anti-colonial revolt of Césaire is challenged by Glissant's archipelagic thinking and Chamoiseau's metaphorical figure of the “warrior of the imaginary”, and there is still the “cannibal poetry” of Ménil. Taking into account the variation of ideological context accompanying the emergence of these concepts, we will see how the idea of resistance inspires the reflection on the writing and the role of the literature in the ever changing Antillean society.