La Négresse de Paradis by Hubert Gerbeau (review)

exceptional and transgressive; more recently, he has come to see it as something that is firmly anchored in our culture, popping up again and again in unexpected places. His fascination with metalepsis is itself fascinating, “Je n’en aurai jamais fini avec cette figure, c‘est elle qui bientôt m’enterrera” (215). Regarding the new, Genette discusses music (both classical and jazz) with more precision here. By that I mean technical precision (see the entry entitled “Modulation,” for example), but he is also more precise about the features of music that move him most particularly. One was aware of his devotion to Proust and to Stendhal, but until now one might not have suspected the depth of his admiration for Borges, whom he sees now as a touchstone writer. Striking, too, is the manner in which Genette frequently apologizes for repeating himself—or for the mere possibility of repeating himself. Yet he might have saved himself the trouble, for a certain amount of repetition is inevitable (and indeed welcome) in a body of work with such a broad ambit. Our imagination is amply occupied here by things both great and small, by sober reflections and by those a bit more blithe. It is amusing to hear Genette speculate about how useful E-mail would have been to Montaigne, Sévigné, Voltaire, Diderot, Proust, and Paulhan. It is interesting to hear him argue that literature is not the most intense of aesthetic pleasures, nor the most immediate. When he suggests that he can trace in his own career a move from a frankly critical position to a theoretical one, and from there to a more practical position, it is natural to ask how his most recent writing exemplifies that tendency. Genette remarks on a couple of occasions that he is flirting with autobiography, yet he warns us too that “[l]a transparence autofictionnelle a ses limites” (246). He observes that this work and the two that precede it belong to a minor genre of literature, suggesting moreover that the adjective should be understood not as a disparaging qualifier, but instead in the musical sense, designating a mode of expression. In Apostille, the poignancy of that mode is leavened by a most bracing skepticism, and one is eager to discover what will come next. University of Colorado Warren Motte GERBEAU, HUBERT. La Négresse de Paradis. Paris: Indes Savantes, 2011. ISBN 978-284654 -258-6. Pp. 214. 21 a. The narrative opens with a section titled Chronique which establishes setting, time and fictional author of the work: Bourbon Island in the Indian Ocean, sometime during the eighteenth century, from documents collected by Père Onésime of the Order of Lazaristes (missionary order founded in France in 1625 by Saint Vincent de Paul). Alternating in contrapuntal format with the section labeled Chronique is a second section titled Petit carnet de mes repentences. In both sections accounts of whipping, sexual slavery, sale of slaves, kidnapping and other cruelties present a sinister picture of life on the island. Woven throughout the tale are voices in dialog, whose owners must be discovered through careful reading. Reformulations of the speech of the slaves offer the opportunity to navigate Créole, a hybrid tongue which changes from one country to another. The language is creative, the imagery often repugnant. Gruesome depictions of incidents of whipping and sexual aggression occur repeatedly. These are brutally inflicted by slave owners displaying indifference and self-righteousness, or by runaways seeking Reviews 787 satisfaction and retribution. Île Bourbon, a mountainous and volcanic island, in the archipelago known as “Les Mascareignes,” provides good hiding places. The “marrons” (runaway slaves) have fled to the mountains. Their leader is hell-bent on revenge against the whites who inhabit the island, most of them landowners or government officials. He believes that he is called and pre-destined to effect a savage cleansing of the island. The darker side of plantation life is explored through the lens of strong racial animosity between blacks and whites. Bongo Moussa, leader of the marrons, camping in the mountains, is gathering strength for war against the island’s white inhabitants. When he speaks to his followers he incites them to...