I am deeply grateful for the support I received throughout this project. Thanks go first of all to Marie-Pierre Le Hir, who introduced me to Condé’s work, and to Tom Trezise for the rigorous and thoughtful criticism he provided at multiple stages of this work. Kathleen Gyssels and Christa Stevens contributed invaluable advice on the direction of the project, and I am indebted to them for their help in bringing the work into its final form. I would also like to thank Roger Little, Timothy Watson, Suzanne Nash, and Aissata Sidikou-Morton for their generous insights into earlier drafts of the manuscript. François Rigolot kindly pointed me to useful materials relating to my topic whenever he came across them, while Richard Regosin’s work on the ruse proved particularly helpful to the conception of Chapter 2. Similarly, I benefited a great deal from the seminars and talks organized by Larry Kritzman at the 2003 Institute of French Cultural Studies at Dartmouth College. At Whitman College, many faculty members have taken an interest in the manuscript and shown their support. I would like to express my gratitude in particular to my colleagues in French, Sarah Hurlburt, Jack Iverson, and Mary Anne O’Neil, who help create the constructive and intellectually engaging work environment that I am lucky to enjoy, and to Bruce Magnusson, Pat Henry, Jeanne Morefield, Paul Apostolidis, Bob Tobin, Gaurav Majumdar, Shampa Biswas, and Lynn Sharp for their friendship and encouragement over the course of the project. Special thanks go to Andrew Hill and Cheyenne Wissenbach for their meticulous help in preparing the manuscript for press, to Alberto Galindo for his assistance in securing permissions from the Banco de México, and to Maryse Condé for her stimulating seminar on literary cannibalism at Princeton University in the fall of 2003. Lauren Theisen’s constant support has sustained me more than she probably knows. Most of all, however, I thank Zahi Zalloua, whose unwavering enthusiasm and sharp critical acumen have altered for the better the course of my work and my life. Portions of this book appeared in different form in three separate publications, and I am grateful to the editors for their comments on drafts and their permission to reprint here. Chapter 4 is based in part on “Eating Well, Reading Well: Condé’s Ethics of Interpretation,” in