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25 mars 2022
- doi: 10.4000/books.pulm.11520
- isbn: 9782842696481
- eisbn: 9782367813967
https://www.openedition.org/12554 , info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Mots-clés
postcolonial récit d’esclave littérature Caraïbe littérature Africaine-Américaine postcolonial slave narrative Caribbean literature African-American literature Literature LIT004100 DSBSujets proches
Earth (Planet)--Satellite SelenologyCiter ce document
Jerome Teelucksingh, « Caribbean Rebels: Examining Dionne Brand’s At the Full and Change of the Moon », Presses universitaires de la Méditerranée, ID : 10.4000/books.pulm.11520
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Résumé
The historical novel At the Full and Change of the Moon seeks to present a different perspective of Caribbean slavery. The Caribbean history books have overwhelmingly focused on male slaves involved in riots and rebellions. Brand sought to overturn these patriarchal stereotypes in her novel. The story begins in Trinidad in 1824 with the plan of Marie Ursule to lead her fellow plantation slaves in an act of mass suicide. Ursule is portrayed by Brand as a natural leader who is seen in the slave society as a “queen of rebels” who has lost an ear in a failed rebellion of 1819. The work traces Ursule’s descendants who are scattered throughout North America and Europe. This dispersal of relatives is symbolic of the uprootedness caused by slavery. The underlying sense of continuity is evident among the descendants throughout the novel. For instance, the boldness of Maya (born in 1952) is strikingly similar to the fearlessness of Ursule. Interestingly, the females portrayed in the novel are able to appreciate and understand their surroundings - be it birds, rain, the moon and vegetation. In contrast the male figures in Brand’s novel are either apathetic or less aware of their surroundings.