The figure of the zombie is a recurring trope for writers in the French Antilles. Two of the most influential and popular authors in modern French-Antillean literature are Patrick Chamoiseau from Martinique and Simone Schwarz-Bart from Guadeloupe. Both of these authors use the figure of the zombie as representations of colonization and the lingering trauma of slavery in Antillean society. In this thesis, I examine two of the most well-known works by these authors, Chamoiseaus Chronique des Sept Misères (1986) and Schwarz-Barts Ti Jean Lhorizon (1979), and how these texts use the nature of the zombie in an effort to define Antillean identity. I argue that it is through the use of the zombie in these texts that Schwarz-Bart and Chamoiseau are able to create a portrait of Antillean culture which, as well as illustrating the importance of history, also proposes a plan to strengthen Antillean identity and literature in the future.

Reunion Island and its literature both reflect a unique world of métissage unveiling a hybrid culture and population. Through centuries, Reunionese authors have used their writings as a means to portray the reality of their complex métisse society. Uninhabited until the seventeenth century, Reunion became a focal point for many nations and peoples who brought their own cultures and traditions. Such diversity, linked to the economic needs of the colony, led to the creation of a new creole language along with a new culture. In the novel Le Nègre Blanc de Bel Air, the Reunionese author Jean-François Samlong focuses on the problems of a hybrid identity through his depiction of the events of December 20th, 1848, a key date in the islands history as it represents the official end of slavery. Based on Samlongs novel, this thesis addresses the construction of a Reunionese hybrid identity. Using Claire de Duras novel Ourika and Alexandre Dumas work Georges, along with Le Nègre Blanc, the first chapter examines education as a process leading to the development of a confused and antagonist identity. Thus, the individual becomes a composite of knowledge, traditions and cultures. Such a mixing does not allow him (her), to belong to a specific class as (s)he represents a new type of individual: the hybrid. Therefore, the second chapter emphasizes La Reunions hybridity and confused identity. Samlong uses his novels protagonist, Songol, as a symbol of the islands hybridity and métissage in order to highlights the contemporary problems of the Reunionese.

My dissertation De lAutre Coté du Periph: Les Lieux de lIdentité dans le Roman Féminin de Banlieue en France examines the writings of young female authors from the French suburbs, known as the banlieues. Not to be confused with their American counterparts, French suburbs have recently emerged as spatialized emblems of violence, poverty and social unrest. Their perception as sites of massive immigration furthermore fueled fears of national identity loss. The riots of fall 2005 violently brought to the foreground tensions that had been simmering and illustrated the increasing division between the banlieues and the rest of French society. Using an approach that combines the study of space, an examination of media, feminist theory and language analysis, I demonstrate that far from being a menace to postmodern Frances imagined community, banlieues are the laboratory of new multiethnic and transnational beings. In my dissertation, I look at writers from the banlieues whose novels feature female protagonists, born in immigrant families and engaged in a quest to redefine self. In this pursuit, the characters of the texts attempt to negotiate their position between the culture at home and the French culture, often symbolized by the powerful école Républicaine. This search is rendered more arduous for female characters within a space that has been constructed as masculine. I argue that through the evocation of non-hegemonic visions, the novels present the banlieues as dynamic spaces allowing for a new discursive practice of identity and citizenship. Chapter one starts with an analysis of public and media discourses and their role in crafting of the banlieue as a lieu du ban. In Chapter two, I show through a reading of Habiba Mahanys Kiffer sa race and Faïza Guènes Kiffe kiffe demain how the characters conjure these images of a marginalized space. Chapter three explores the generational differences between female protagonists and the impact of the quest for self on mother-daughter relations. A side-by-side analysis of Leila Sebbars Fatima ou les Algériennes au Square, Tassadit Imaches Une Fille sans histoire and Habiba Mahanys Kiffer sa race brings light to the influence of the maternal figure on the daughters representation of self. Finally, the fourth chapter looks at the linguistic manifestations of these métissages. A close examination of the writing and linguistic features of my corpus will reveal the critical position of language as a shelter for polyphonic voices calling on France to reexamine its position vis-à-vis these marginalized citizens.

At a time when francophone women writers are hardly published, the Senegalese author Ken Bugul becomes the talk of the town with her 1982 novel Le baobab fou. At that point, not only is she becoming a francophone literary precursor to other francophone writers, she also imposes a style which explores and contradicts traditional views. Indeed from the beginning of the story in rural Senegal where the mother is traditionally defined and held responsible for educating her children so that the tradition can endure, Ken has to face her mothers disappearance when she is just a child. The lack of a maternal figure pushes Ken to seek comfort in the French colonial system and to choose self-exile in Europe. The first part of the novel La préhistoire de Ken points out the birth of Kens confused identity with the mothers abandonment acting as the principal trigger. My first chapter therefore analyzes the traditional role of the mother and Kens hybrid identity. This leads to the second chapter which discusses Kens exile in Lhistoire de Ken, the second part of the novel. Kens maternal quest ends up being a disillusioning journey where she falls into total decline, exploring many taboos including prostitution and drugs. My second chapter demonstrates that the absent mother is what defines Le baobab fou. Thus, it is interesting to look at a different novel from Ken Bugul Mes hommes à moi to examine once again the mother/daughter relationship. The third chapter compares the similarities and differences of this relationship as portrayed in the two novels but also includes the father figure to whom Bugul gives a bigger part in her latest work.

In their 2007 manifesto, Quand les murs tombent: lidentit&236; nationale hors-la-loi, &200;douard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau propose that the nation-state is a stumbling block to global solidarity as it emphasizes cultural division. In order to achieve international community across borders, people must find common bonds that link them across traditional lines of conflict. My thesis applies this notion within the context of la Francophonie, an organization that has struggled with its goal of cultural rapprochement as its member nations continue to perceive each other as foreign entities rather than as like components of a larger community. I assert that la Francophonie is connected by a series of historical and literary experiences that go beyond the organizations stated unities of language and humanistic values, and that these experiences are rooted in conflict. To understand what is common across nations, one need first look at what is uncommon within them. In examining lines of division that disrupt national unities, I uncover international ones, highlighting trans-historical and transnational trends in the types of conflict that revolve around specific contentious subjects, as well as the similarities of conditions, motivations, and actions that mark these battles. My first chapter addresses the issue of language, detailing the ways in which multilingual societies struggle to cope with coexistence. I show that speakers of various languages are confronted with consistent social imbalances, attempts to regulate language usage, and questions of national affiliation. In my second chapter, I analyze religious divides that have plagued numerous civilizations, positing that religions become embroiled in two archetypical relationships: an uneasy relationship with the state marked by interference, and a paradigm in which minority religions are transformed into archrivals. My third chapter brings a different perspective to the notion of national conflict, using literature to highlight tensions between individuals and the urban environments they call home. I establish a common antagonistic relationship with the city as diverse authors struggle against the psychological strains of losing their emotional connections, their freedom, and their moral fiber. I conclude by demonstrating the contemporary relevance of establishing new imaginaires in light of evolving conceptions of global connections.

This dissertation investigates textual representations of writing in twelfth-century French romance. Grounded in an historical context that establishes the twelfth century as the foundation of the modern book, I explore the complex relationship between author, audience, and text. My thesis asserts that medieval authors, following the intellectual enlightenment of the Twelfth Century Renaissance, express apprehensions, fears, enthusiasm, and wonderment at their craft. Looking at metaphoric representations of writing, I employ cognitive science, principally Lakoff and Johnson's theory of metaphor, to better understand the complex and multifarious attitudes toward writing as a new and changing technology. By first establishing the integral link between metaphor and culture and the historical context for writing's expansion, I look at writing acts and the written word as they appear explicitly and implicitly in the narratives in order to trace an emerging literary subjectivity. Beginning with the metaphoric comparison of pen and ink to sword and blood, my first chapter looks at the early so-called aristocratic version of Floire et Blanchefleur and its popular counterpart. Focusing less on the individual versions but rather on the divergences between them, I examine apprehensions surrounding writings potential. Looking at writings integral role in translatio, I trace writing as a means of transfer to a tool for authority, an instrument of power, and eventuallyas a means of destruction. The following two chapters explore writings reproductive nature and issues of gender, from authorship as insemination in Chrétien de Troyes romances to the book as child in Marie de Frances lais. In the final chapter, I examine the authorial "I" in Partonopeu de Blois in order to demonstrate that literary subjectivity took root in the twelfth century, in a text that predates the Roman de la Rose by some fifty years. Each of my chapters serves to highlight the intrinsic relationship between writing and culture in the twelfth century, revealing attitudes toward writing as well as many unexplored aspects of these important literary productions. This dissertation will contribute to medieval French studies in two important ways: by offering a complementary view of authorship and writing which stems from and is grounded in the literary texts rather than in historical archives, and to shed new light on authorial, aristocratic, and popular attitudes toward writing.

My thesis deals with : ««Engagement» in African Literature : the study of the Poetic Myth: Maïéto Pour Zékia by Joachim Bohui Dali or the Violence as the Symbol for Love». According to the myth of Maïé, at the beginning of the world, men and women lived in different areas and the two communities did not have any physical let alone sexual contact. After a significant war between these two groups, the women were defeated and therefore forced the men to marry. In short, the myth of Maïé explains how men and women met. Bohui Dali, in his book has inverted the myth of Maïé. The new war, according to him, is no longer between men and women. The war in the poem of Bohui Dali is the one that opposes Good to Evil. There are two main reasons for my choice of this topic: First of all, Maïéto Pour Zékia is the first literary work to have dealt with the mythic origin of marriage and polygamy in Ivorian society. In addition, Maïéto Pour Zékia allows us to understand the suffering of women in Africa and why they are always considered to be «inferior» to men. Then, Maïéto Pour Zékia presents issues for a possible approach to teaching of African oral literature in universities and other academic institutions. First, I will begin my study by situating the space of diffusion of the myth of Maïé in a comparative context and by defining the term of myth and explaining its importance in African culture. Finally, I will concentrate on the study of the poetic myth of Maïéto Pour Zékia. I will insist on some aspects such as the place of women in the rebirth of African culture, the question of violence, and the theory of «Engagement» in African literature.

Creole African American Vernacular English or CAAVE is a variety of English spoken by African Americans of French ancestry who live primarily in the French Triangle of Louisiana. Dubois and Horvath (2003b) have previously published on glide absence in CAAVE and have suggested that CAAVE is a unique dialect of English. They attribute CAAVEs glide absence to the contact of Creole African Americans with diverse groups of English speakers and not to language interference from French. This research further pursues these hypotheses by studying the phonological realization of word final syllable-codas for six old male speakers of CAAVE. The reduction of word final consonant clusters and the deletion of word final single consonants will allow us to compare CAAVE with other dialects of English and to find further support for the assertion that CAAVE is a distinct variety of English. From this analysis, theories for the formation of the CAAVE dialect will be explored resulting in the general conclusion that CAAVEs unique properties of word final coda reduction are likely attributable to the presence of similar features in an older variety of English spoken by African Americans who were first brought to Louisiana as slaves after the Louisiana Purchase. The eventual merging of this group with the existing Francophone Louisiana-born black population resulted in the formation of Creole African American communities who further came into contact with other English-speaking groups of diverse origins to form CAAVE. The claim by Dubois and Horvath (2003c) that older Creole African Americans and Cajuns from the same geographical area speak the same unique dialect of English will also be discussed through the comparison of Dubois and Horvaths preliminary evidence from Cajun Vernacular English with data collected for CAAVE. This analysis finds support for the argument that among old male speakers, CAAVE and Cajun Vernacular English are in fact the same dialect of English, although race remains as a social distinction separating the two groups.

This thesis illustrates the distinction established by Maurice Blanchot in Le Livre à venir, between novel and narration, as it appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Le conte du Graal ou le roman de Perceval. The novel accompanies the hero to the meeting with the Sirens, while the narration constitutes the meeting itself. Once the hero had his meeting with the Sirens, in Perceval's case he has the privilege of hearing God's names, he disappears from the novel, entering the realm of silence, which dominates the narration. In leaving the novel, Perceval gains access to a superior meaning, hidden to the reader, which will save him from the futile repetition of the same experience. What this paper demonstrates is that Perceval and Gauvain as well, had several meetings with the Sirens, but they either willingly ignored them or did not even see them in the first place. The reason is no other than their remarkable rhetorical skills which would be of no value outside the novel. If Perceval makes the vow to silence and saves himself, it is because he realizes that after several years of glorious combat, chivalry has nothing new to offer him. On the contrary, Gauvain, too superficial to become aware of his own degradation, will remain faithful to the world of the novel and to the Arthurian fiction.

This study of four 19th and 20th century colonial texts, as well as a later postcolonial novel exposes the cadres exotiques, or exotic frameworks, of literary exoticism. The thesis names and interprets the moods of and reactions to exoticism, including colonial exoticism, antiexoticism, and autoexoticism. Poetic and theoretical interpretations of exoticism, such as Victor Segalens Notion du Divers and Edouard Glissants Opacité and Poétique de la Relation challenge the prevalent assumptions that the literary practice was only an unfortunate byproduct of colonialism. The first chapter presents literary history and theoretical considerations relating to exoticism: Orientalism, nostalgia, colonial literary history, and a critical literature review. Chapter II explores Le Roman dun spahi (1881) and Les Trois dames de la Kasbah (1882) by Pierre Loti, two texts dating from Frances high colonial period of the late 19th century. Chapter III studies works and contexts of the 1930sLouis-Ferdinand Célines Voyage au bout de la nuit (1932) and Michel Leiriss LAfrique fantôme (1934). These modernist texts appeared with the decline of colonial exoticisms popularity. conclude with an analysis of Simone Schwarz-Barts Pluie et vent sur Télumée Miracle (1973), a postcolonial novel about the life of a Creole woman in the former French colony of Guadeloupe.