An expression of Guyanité: the writings of Serge Patient and Elie Stéphenson in the (re-) creation of a national literary allegory

Hamilton, Todd

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Description

Title

An expression of Guyanité: the writings of Serge Patient and Elie Stéphenson in the (re-) creation of a national literary allegory

Author(s)

Hamilton, Todd

Issue Date

2012-05-22T00:29:50Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Murdoch, H. Adlai

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Murdoch, H. Adlai

Committee Member(s)

• Kuntz, Jane
• Mall, Laurence
• Fresco, Alain D.
• Hassan, Wail S.

Department of Study

French

Discipline

French

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• French Guiana
• French Guianese Literature
• Postcolonial literature

Abstract

In an academic sense, the history and literature of French Guiana remains largely obscure, overlooked, and unexplored. In the study that follows, an exploration of the history, demographics, and literary production, and the legacies of colonial discourse as they pertain specifically to the French département are presented. The objective of the study is to present and evaluate the effectiveness of postcolonial reactions to legacies handed down from the “official” colonial record, and from one text, Frédéric Bouyer's La Guyane française: Notes et souvenirs d’un voyage exécuté en 1862-1863, in particular. Following an introduction and analysis of Bouyer's travel chronicle as a prototypical representation of colonial discourse, subsequent explorations of Serge Patient's novella, Le Nègre du gouverneur, and Elie Stéphenson's plays, La Nouvelle légende de D'Chimbo and Massak, are investigated as voices of resistance and as a means of rehabilitation of the history and the culture of French Guiana. With the historical D’Chimbo Affair as the focal point of the four primary texts studied, the extent to which the texts of Patient and Stéphenson participate in the formation of a “national literature” or as a part of a “national literary allegory” is examined. With the limitations and particularities that such definitions encompass duly noted, it is concluded that the texts of Patient and Stéphenson do indeed participate in both the formation of a national literature as well as in the making of a national literary allegory.

Graduation Semester

2012-05

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Copyright 2012 Todd Hamilton

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