Patrick Chamoiseau and the Limits of the Aesthetics of Resistance

This article shows how Patrick Chamoiseau’s struggle against neocolonial forms of domination of Martinique is remarkably similar to French Regionalism, a movement fighting for political and cultural autonomy of the French Provinces in the early XXth Century. Given the fate of French Regionalism which did not to secure political autonomy of the Provinces and became a mere illustration of their cultural and literary diversity, the failure of the Chamoiseau’s campaign to preserve and liberate the martiniquan imaginary is almost inevitable. Ultimately, instead of asserting an national identity and inserting Martinique more fully within the Caribbean Region, the literary strategies of Chamoiseau reinforce ties with France.