Caribbean Fiction, African Americans - Fiction & Literature, Crimes - Fiction
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Overview
A nostalgic and erotic story that is also a deeply sophisticated look at modern Martinique.A tree cannot keep secrets because its roots discreetly meet those of other trees and share its thoughts. Adelise, a young girl trapped working in the cane fields of Martinique, keeps confidence with the flowering mangrove in her backyard. Her strict and watchful mother says Adelise is a dragonfly, refusing to learn that life is not a game.
When she is transplanted to the dangerous and politically restive capital, Fort-de-France, her aunt introduces her to the unsavory business of nightlife among the Mulatto elite, and Adelise comes to rely even more on her elaborate system of wistful detachment from her body.
Editorials
Le Monde
Raphael Confiant's spare style is reminiscent of Christina Garcia's, and the ambivalent sensuality and fierce independence of his Caribbean heroine recall Edwidge Danticat's heroines. Mamzelle Dragonfly is that rare thing: a politically savvy novel that is also intimately affecting.Library Journal
You both refuse to admit life isn t a game, you re like dragonflies fluttering over waterlilies, Adelise s mother tells her, referring to her Aunt Philomene. Soon after, Adelise leaves the sugarcane fields of the Martinique countryside and goes to live in Fort-de-France. There, her aunt introduces Adelise to the unsavory nightlife of the city. Adelise readily gives up her body to any passing man but remains a fiercely independent woman. While she is a well-drawn character, the characters surrounding her are flat caricatures. The story, too, flutters like a dragonfly, touching on the political unrest of the capital, the city s cultural background, and its vibrant festivals but never settling on one aspect long enough to give a complete picture. This novel, Confiant s first to be published in English, was translated from French after having been translated from the Creole in which it was originally written; what once may have been poetic comes across as choppy and confused. A marginal purchase. Yvette Olson, City Univ. Lib., Renton, WA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.Boston Globe
"Lyrical yet unsentimental. . . . Set amid the social and political restlessness of a 1950s Martinique clamoring for independence from France, this is a novel about how a girl learns to separate her mind and body from the circumstances and people who threaten to tear her apart. . . . Confiant's searing writing recalls the work of Edwidge Danticat, the acclaimed young Haitian-American author." —Boston GlobeBook Details
Published
July 5, 2000
Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Pages
160
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780641634888