Yale French Studies, Number 147: Patrick Chamoiseau: The Art of Words Without Borders

An examination of interrelatedness, influence, and intention in the works of Martinican writer Patrick Chamoiseau

In this issue of Yale French Studies, editors Thomas Trezise and Charly Verstraet assemble essays exploring the work of Martinican writer Patrick Chamoiseau. As a public intellectual concerned with affairs both local and global, Chamoiseau has crafted a body of work that reaches beyond the traditional borders of the Caribbean while maintaining the interrelatedness of the islands with the rest of the world. Contributors to the volume, including Chamoiseau himself, examine his novels, memoirs, poetics, and depictions of trauma, darkness, animals, and more to reveal the way his words cannot be contained within traditional boundaries (literary, political, or cultural). The collection touches on Chamoiseau's techniques of borrowing, mixing, and subverting European literary genres; his implicit or explicit dialogue with other writers; his engagement with different media; and the connections he draws between historical trauma and natural disaster.