Rebellious Detours: Creative Everyday Strategies of Resistance In
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Rebellious Detours: Creative Everyday Strategies of Resistance in Four Caribbean Novels A dissertation submitted to the Division of the Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTORATE IN PHILOSOPHY (Ph.D.) in the department of Romance Languages and Literatures of the College of Arts and Sciences 2012 by Iliana Rosales-Figueroa Master of Arts, University of Missouri (Columbia, MO, 2006) Committee Chair: Dr. P. Valladares-Ruiz Committee members: Dr. T. Migraine-George, Dr. M. Vialet ii Abstract This work is a comparative analysis of four postcolonial novels by Caribbean writers that resist Western power domination and dictatorships: Texaco (1992) by Patrick Chamoiseau, Le cri des oiseaux fous (2000) by Dany Laferrière, El hombre, la hembra y el hambre (1998) by Daína Chaviano, and Nuestra señora de la noche (2006) by Mayra Santos-Febres. My study incorporates authors from both the Francophone and Hispanic Caribbean, signaling a shared intense critique in literature that links these authors directly to their nations’ political control. My principal task in this dissertation is the examination of characters’ creation of non-violent strategies of resistance. I argue that, even though their maneuvers do not alter the course of history in each society, they question, destabilize, and undermine the autocratic governments in which they evolve. My theoretical framework draws from a wide, trans-regional variety of critics in Spanish, French, and English. Using in particular the critical thinking developed by Michel De Certeau and Édouard Glissant, the study explores how characters are subjects always “in motion”—in both the literal and figurative sense—who simply do not accept the physical and mental limitations imposed by the autocratic regimes, and take rebellious detours that allow them to produce their own rules that seem troublesome for some, but inspiring for others, who decide to imitate them. As a result, characters become the opposite of what their dominants had in mind: they become dynamic, flexible, and complex subjects. Even though the literary works were written at the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first century, the past moment of narrativization allows me to demonstrate how political oppression is represented through situational constraints, such as racial discrimination, class distinction, and gender inequality in four distinct historical eras: The French departmentalization of Martinique in 1946, the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier who ruled iii Haiti from 1971 to 1986, the Cuban revolution in 1959 with Fidel Castro coming to power, and finally the military rule of Puerto Rico under US officials in the first half of the twentieth century. The study of these historical events allows me to identify the treacherous conditions created by political oppression in the urban spaces of Fort-de-France, Port-au-Prince, Havana, and Ponce. These cities are labyrinthine worlds where characters feel trapped in an impossible in-between. Nonetheless, the urban spaces are also sites of creation and challenge due to their sense of fluidness, not having borders, and openness to influence and change. Since these cities are, on one hand, controlled by autocratic governments, and on the other hand, sites of creation, my research examines the ways in which characters escape and protect themselves from the incongruities and dissonances of the problematic environment, and how they create their own spaces in which they transform, adapt, and feel secure. iv v Acknowledgments This dissertation would not be complete without giving credit to those who made it possible. I would like to first thank the chair of my committee, Dr. Patricia Valladares-Ruiz, for her advice, insight, and consultations. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee for their valuable wisdom and suggestions. Everyone’s feedback proved to be very valuable in finishing this thesis. Finally, I would like to recognize the entire faculty from the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, whose classes inspired me to explore beyond the boundaries which I thought were previously impassible. A mis padres, porque les debo todo lo que soy, y que a pesar de la distancia, escucho sus palabras de apoyo y de consuelo. A mi retoño de abril, Carmen Sofía, por su sonrisa contagiosa, sus ojos de estrella, sus ganas de vivir, pero sobre todo, por ser el pilar de mis deseos. A mi esposo, John Carter, por caminar en este sendero de la vida junto a mí, siempre agarrados de la mano, con amor, paciencia y comprensión. A Dios, por encima de todos, por permitirme terminar esta etapa de la vida y por abrirme el camino para iniciar una nueva. vi Table of contents Introduction: A different type of war 1 Chapter I: Resistance Literature 6 Political Resistance in the Caribbean 23 Strategies of resistance 38 Chapter II: Martinique: Texaco (1992) About the author and his novel 53 Family’s past 67 Marie-Sophie’s present 83 The art of speaking 100 Chapter III: Haiti: Le cri des oiseaux fous (2000) About the author and his novel 110 Family’s past 121 Vieux Os’ present 132 The art of rhythm 151 Chapter IV: Cuba: El hombre, la hembra y el hambre (1998) About the author and her novel 161 Claudia’s present 174 Havana’s past 193 The art of creation 201 Chapter V: Puerto Rico: Nuestra señora de la noche (2006) About the author and her novel 210 Isabel’s past 226 vii Isabel’s present 235 The art of negotiation 252 Conclusion 259 Bibliography 270 Introduction A Different Type of War1 My Brothers and Sisters, because no bombs burst around us, no shells explode in our midst, no sirens scream in the stillness of our nights, no bloodied limbs are torn apart in the dust of our streets, we forget that we are a people at war. WE ARE AT WAR. (Lovelace, “At War” 126) The above lines are taken from the essay “At War with the System” by the Trinidadian writer Earl Lovelace. I have quoted this passage because it poses several important questions. Exactly what type of war is the author referring to? If there are no bombs bursting around us, no sirens crying out in the night, and no bloodied limbs ripped apart on the streets, then what will we encounter in this war? And how should we best react? In these lines, Lovelace introduces a very different type of war, one that has its origins in slavery and colonialism, and one which has continued its exploitative and dehumanizing system using other repressive measures, including racial and gender inequality, political control, and class divisions. Clearly, Lovelace raises important questions about this type of war. At the end of the essay, Lovelace encourages his “Brothers and Sisters”2 to fight against the oppressive system by reflecting on the situation at hand (128). He argues that individuals must effect change themselves—no one else will come to their rescue (128). The way individuals react in critical moments depends on their personal strengths and their environments. My thesis “Rebellious Detours: Creative Everyday Strategies of Resistance in Four Caribbean Novels” is an attempt to analyze the ways in which writers visualize their fight against their nations’ strict government rules and the responses of their fellow inhabitants. It must be acknowledged that their literary 1 This title is inspired by Earl Lovelace’s article entitled “At War with the System.” 2 People of a nation. 2 works are not chronicles of important historical moments and political issues in their countries. They are creations molded by their own experiences in countries where violence is not represented with bombs and bloodied limbs ripped apart on the streets, but with social and economic constraints that affect the inhabitants’ mind. The four writers I have chosen to study were born and raised in the Caribbean. Even though two of them left their countries once they were adults—I return to the issue of exile in Chapter I—the way they describe the challenging and complex relations between the oppressor and the oppressed is shaped by the personal experiences they had before they left their home countries. Certainly, these authors have deeply meditated (as Lovelace suggests in his essay) upon the autocratic governments in their home nations. Throughout their literary works, they creatively respond to political control by emphasizing the fact that each individual must become active in the struggle’s process in order to gain some freedom. My research is therefore primarily concerned with their characters’ actions, specifically, how they create strategies of resistance. I also aim to compare the various ways in which Francophone and Hispanic Caribbean writers from various backgrounds critically approach the topic of resistance to oppression. It is important to clarify that I am not attempting to offer a full history of Caribbean literature on political resistance. There are already some excellent works that include detailed descriptions and analysis of authoritarian governments and literary works in this part of the world. The purpose of this research is to broaden the scope of these investigations by including novels in Spanish and French that have not yet been studied from this perspective. I do not suggest that the novels I have chosen are the only texts that adequately represent political oppression—specifically the domination and dictatorships of the Western powers—and resistance in the Hispanic and Francophone Caribbean. It is true that the texts I have chosen in 3 the chapters that follow—as I argue in more detail in Chapter I—have certain characteristics that facilitate the examination of characters’ strategies of resistance, as well as the exploration of the autocratic regimes. Yet by no means should they be treated as the only works that do so.