Un penchant pour l'opacité : de l'identité rhizomatique à la résistance langagière et narrative dans Solibo Magnifique et Traversée de la mangrove

Sammanfattning: This thesis analyses two novels taking place in the Caribbean context, Traversée de la mangrove (1989), written by Maryse Condé, and Solibo Magnifique (1988), written by Patrick Chamoiseau. Focus is on the themes of identity and resistance and how these themes are represented and problematised in the novels. Some narrative aspects are also given attention, such as how the use of different narrative techniques mirrors the themes in the novels. Objecting to the French/European obsession with rationality, transparency and linearity, the novels propose other ways of expressing identity as well as writing literature. The French language, associated with Western and colonial discourses and with the ideals of Enlightenment, is used as a tool to dominate and suppress others. Identity is described in terms of rhizomatic relationships and diversity, rather than as stable entities. Opacity is a way of resisting the violence of rational descriptions and the linear, causal narrations. By refusing to tell all, and by claiming that certain things cannot be explained in rational ways, the novels problematise the act of representing and insist upon complexity. The penchant for opacity is reflected in the narration for example in the tendency to pose questions rather than provide answers for the reader.