Exile, diaspora and migrations in Maryse Condé’s "En attendant la montée des eaux"
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.1984-1124.i32p21-36Keywords:
Chorality, Wandering, Exile, Identity, Literature, PolyphonyAbstract
En attendant la montée des eaux (“Waiting for the rise of water”) is a choral novel in which there are several back-and-forth movements between past and present. It tells the story of three wandering men – Babakar, Fouad and Movar – united by a little Haitian orphan girl whom they want to bring back to the land of her ancestors. In this novel, some characters emigrate from Africa first to Guadeloupe, then to Haiti; others leave Haiti for Guadeloupe and come back not only for a better life but also to escape their past, or rather the exact opposite so as to reconnect with their origins. The writing, the choral narrative and the purpose tend to build a novel focused on wandering in which getting lost also means searching and discovering.
The aim of this article is to demonstrate that, in the novel, wandering is necessary to discover one’s identity and allow the quest for one's self. To that end, we will analyse the wandering faced by the characters and which is intrinsic to each of them, the personal and collective quest for identity and the designation of Haiti as an adoptive land and place of true settlement.
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