Édouard Glissant: penseur et toposapien du réel antillais

Abstract

The present article examines the theoretical and literary writings of Édouard Glissant in light of key concepts and features that have been central to his thoughts on cultural diversity. To address these, this study focuses on the notions of trace, opacity and the complexity of collective memory. It points to his experimentation with literary genres, his strategic use of marronnage, his playful but conscious manipulation of narrative conventions, viewpoints and techniques, and views them as resistance strategies or weapons of defence against a singular system of domination. I shall argue that his extensive discussion on the interactive plurality of relations aims at transforming the imagination by valuing different ways of knowing, perceiving, relating and representing individuals and collectivities not only in the Caribbean but in the 'Whole-World'. These philosophical and experiential traces in Glissant's writings offer a multiplicity of possibilities: they can twist and turn, divide or diffract, soar or plunge, revert and divert, while engaging curious readers to seek in a myriad of ways an open-ended inquiry into the human condition.