Creole Renegades : Rhetoric of Betrayal and Guilt in the Caribbean Diaspora

“Rich in scope and audacious in its critical vision, __Creole Renegades__ incisively advances debates about fundamental aspects of our postcolonial and globalized experiences such as the enigmas of racial passing, creoleness, and returning and leaving ‘home.’”—Anny Dominique Curtius, author of __Symbiosis of a Memory__ “An important book that tackles the phenomenon of exiled Caribbean authors from a new perspective, underscoring their contentious relationship with the home island. Boisseron continues the work of ‘decentering’ Caribbean studies, moving the locus of analysis from the Antilles or Europe to North America.”—Richard Watts, author of __Packaging Post/Coloniality__ “This insightful approach illuminates important shifts in Caribbean literature and enables Boisseron to make new, essential contributions into the articulation of subjectivities in twenty-first century literary criticism.”—Frieda Ekotto, author of __Race and Sex across the French Atlantic__ Exiled writers often have extremely complicated relationships with their native lands. In this volume, Bénédicte Boisseron examines the works of Caribbean-born writers who, from their new locations in North America, question their cultural obligations of Caribbeanness, Creoleness, and even Blackness. She surveys the works of Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, V. S. Naipaul, Maryse Condé, Dany Laferrière, and others who at times have been well received in their adopted countries but who have been dismissed in their home islands as sell-outs, opportunists, or traitors. These expatriate and second-generation authors refuse to be simple bearers of Caribbean culture, often dramatically distancing themselves from the postcolonial archipelago. Their writing is frequently infused with an enticing sense of cultural, sexual, or racial emancipation, but their deviance is not defiant. Instead, their emancipations are those of the nomad, whose actual and descriptive travels between points on a cultural compass help to deconstruct the “sedentary ideology of Caribbeanness” and to reanimate it with new perspectives. Underscoring the often-ignored contentious relationship between modern diaspora authors and the Caribbean, Boisseron ultimately argues that displacement and creative autonomy are often manifest in guilt and betrayal, central themes that emerge again and again in the work of these writers. Caribbean Philosophical Association Nicols Cristbal Guilln Batista Outstanding Book Award Caribbean Studies Association Barbara T. Christian Literary Award - Honorable Mention Exiled writers often have extremely complicated relationships with their native lands. In this volume, Bndicte Boisseron examines the works of Caribbean-born writers who, from their new locations in North America, question their cultural obligations of Caribbeanness, Creoleness, and even Blackness. She surveys the works of Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, V. S. Naipaul, Maryse Cond, Dany Laferrire, and others who at times have been well received in their adopted countries but who have been dismissed in their home islands as sell-outs, opportunists, or traitors. These expatriate and second-generation authors refuse to be simple bearers of Caribbean culture, often dramatically distancing themselves from the postcolonial archipelago. Their writing is frequently infused with an enticing sense of cultural, sexual, or racial emancipation, but their deviance is not defiant. Instead, their emancipations are those of the nomad, whose actual and descriptive travels between points on a cultural compass help to deconstruct the sedentary ideology of Caribbeanness and to reanimate it with new perspectives. Underscoring the often-ignored contentious relationship between modern diaspora authors and the Caribbean, Boisseron ultimately argues that displacement and creative autonomy are often manifest in guilt and betrayal, central themes that emerge again and again in the work of these writers. Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Caribbean Philosophical Association Nicolás Cristóbal Guillén Batista Outstanding Book Award Caribbean Studies Association Barbara T. Christian Literary Award, Honorable Mention  In Creole Renegades, Bénédicte Boisseron looks at exiled Caribbean authors—Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, V. S. Naipaul, Maryse Condé, Dany Laferriére, and more—whose works have been well received in their adopted North American countries but who are often viewed by their home islands as sell-outs, opportunists, or traitors. These expatriate and second-generation authors refuse to be simple bearers of Caribbean culture, often dramatically distancing themselves from the postcolonial archipelago. Their writing is frequently infused with an enticing sense of cultural, sexual, or racial emancipation, but their deviance is not defiant. Underscoring the typically ignored contentious relationship between modern diaspora authors and the Caribbean, Boisseron ultimately argues that displacement and creative autonomy are often manifest in guilt and betrayal, central themes that emerge again and again in the work of these writers.  Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This Book Investigates The Exilic Literature Of Caribbean-born And Caribbean-descent Writers Who, From Their New Location In Northern America, Question Their Cultural Roots And Search For A Creative Autonomy. Introduction: The Second-generation Caribbean Diaspora -- Anatole Broyard: Racial Betrayal And The Art Of Being Creole -- Maryse Condé's Histoire De La Femme Cannibale: Coming Out In The French Antilles -- Edwidge Danticat And Dany Laferrière: Parasitic And Remittance Diaspora -- V. S. Naipaul And Jamaica Kincaid: Rhetoric Of National Dis-allegiance -- Creole Versus Bossale Renegade: Turfism In The Black Diaspora Of The Americas. Bénédicte Boisseron. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Examines exiled Caribbean authors - Edwidge Danticat, Jamaica Kincaid, V. S. Naipaul, Maryse Conde, Dany Laferriere, and more - whose works have been well received in their adopted North American countries but who are often viewed by their home islands as sell-outs, opportunists, or traitors.