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95 ch a p ter fou r Patrick Chamoiseau The Theatrical Self and a Paradoxical Reception Patrick Chamoiseau was born in Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique , in 1953. He studied law both in his country of birth and in France, and he served as a probation officer in Fort-de-France before working as a librarian with young prisoners in France. Chamoiseau collaborated with his fellow countryman Raphaël Confiant and Jean Bernabé on the literary manifesto Eloge de la Créolité; the three authors are considered the primary partisans of Créolité, the theory of French West Indian literature, culture, and identity. In this chapter, I demonstrate that Antan d’enfance, one of a series of autobiographies by Chamoiseau, uses orality to display a theatrical performance of the Self while it defends Creole and Créolité elements thematically. I also show that the autobiography was fairly well received in France and in Martinique , where favorable press coverage created a supportive audience, even though some Martinican commentators criticized the work. The critical Martinican reactions are aimed not only at the autobiography but also at the Créolité movement itself, which it exemplifies. Chamoiseau is a prolific author, playwright, and essayist who has won numerous prizes. His novels include the Prix de l’Ile Maurice-winning Chronique des sept misères (1986); Solibo Magnifique (1988); the Prix Goncourt-winning Texaco (1992); L’Esclave vieil homme et le molosse (1997); Biblique des derniers gestes (2002); À Bout d’enfance (2005) (reedited as Une Enfance créole III, À bout d’enfance by Gallimard in 2006); Un dimanche au cachot (2007); and Les Neuf Consciences du malfini (2009). Postcolonial Francophone Autobiographies 96 He also wrote a play in the form of Creole folktale (1981’s Man Dlo contre la fée Carabosse) and a collection of Creole folktales entitled Au Temps de l’antan (1988), winner of the Grand Prix de la littérature de jeunesse. Chamoiseau is also the author and coauthor of numerous essays: Eloge de la Créolité (1989); Martinique (1989); Guyane, Tracés-mémoires du bagne (1994); Lettres créoles: Tracées antillaises et continentales de la littérature: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyane, Haïti, 1635–1975 (1991, in collaboration with Confiant); Ecrire la parole de nuit: La Nouvelle Littérature antillaise (1994, in collaboration with Ralph Ludwig); and Ecrire en pays dominé (1997) which is part-essay and part-autobiography. Antand’enfance,thefirstofatrilogyofchildhoodautobiographiesthat alsoincludesCheminsd’école(1994)andÀBoutd’enfance(2005),wasfirst published in September 1990 by Editions Hatier. Antan d’enfance was renamed Une Enfance créole I: Antan d’enfance when Editions Gallimard published a 1993 edition of the book to keep in line with the series of autobiographies by Chamoiseau, which became Une Enfance créole II: Chemins d’école (1996) and Une Enfance créole III: À bout d’enfance (2006), respectively. In 1990, Editions Hatier created a series called “Haute Enfance ,” for which selected authors were asked to write about their childhood . “Haute Enfance” was under the directorship of René de Ceccatty, a writer who worked as a journalist and literary critic at Le Monde. At the end of December 1991, when Editions Hatier closed, Gallimard inherited the “Haute Enfance” collection. In 1999, Carol Wolk translated Antan d’enfance into English as Childhood for the University of Nebraska Press. In this chapter, I will be using both the 1993 edition of Antan d’enfance and Wolk’s English translation. Chamoiseau’s novels usually take place in the Caribbean and are marked by a search for an oral literary perspective in the written text. Most of his essays are centered on the problem of literature in the French Caribbean and revolve around the notion of Créolité. Antan d’enfance is a narrative of the autobiographer’s childhood in Martinique in the 1950s. Chamoiseau’s first autobiography initially focuses on himself and his family; later, it expands to include the immediate community of Fort-deFrance . The autobiography opens with a foreword establishing the relationship between fire and the family house in Fort-de-France. As a fire destroys the family home, one part of the autobiographer’s life is going into oblivion. The Creole childhood that Chamoiseau wants to depict is full of nostalgia, and telling his story is also a way to recapture or revive the past that burned with the destruction of the house, a symbol of his family’s memory and space. The narrative focuses on the early years of [18.217.208...

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