Chaos, loss, passage and desire. The experience of diaspora in the works of Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, Andrea Levy and Dionne Brand
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: This thesis brings together the visions of four women writers of West Indian descent (Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, Andrea Levy and Dionne Brand) and interprets their works through the most established theories of diaspora and postcolonial studies in the attempt to illustrate the composite nature of the experience of Caribbean diaspora. It lies on the premise that such a complex phenomenon must be interpreted as both an historical event, a private happening and a socio-cultural revolution, and leads to the conclusion that one single voice cannot be enough to represent its comprehensive identity. Multivocality thus becomes a necessity and the idea of assembling the images produced by a group of authors rather, than concentrating on one particular imagery, serves to foster a bird’s eye vision able to render the kaleidoscopic character of this experience. Each chapter turns around one of these writers, whose work is interpreted according to one dominant image. Resorting to a strategy based on the collection of apparently disparate images, this thesis reinforces the idea that the complexity of the Caribbean experience of diaspora cannot be interpreted univocally and that loss, desire, chaos and transition are the leading forces of this phenomenon.
Author: Elena Maria Carraro
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W164709177