|
French Caribbean Literatures
of the Department of Modern Languages & Literatures, on Mondays & Wednesdays from 2:00pm to 3:50pm, in Nichols 173 |
TOPICS FOR GROUP DISCUSSIONS
Group 1: Study the characters Délira and Bienaimé
Group 2: Study the relationship between the laborer & the land
Group 3: Study how workers' solidarity is represented
Group 4: Study the character of Manuel
Group 5: Study the character of Annaïse
Group 6: Study the representation of Cuba in the imagination & in memory
Group 7: Study representations of religion (both Christianity and vodou)
Group 8: Study the imagery of water, fire & blood in the novel
Group 1: Steps in the José's evolution from young child to young adult
Group 2: The role of storytellers and storytelling
Group 3: Adults: figures of authority and others (not: M'man & Médouze)
Group 4: Children (Vireil, Christian Bussi, Jojo, etc.)
Group 5: Race and how it is represented
Group 6: Role of education (formal or other)
Group 7: Sugar cane, reality and symbol
Group 8: M'man Tine & Médouze
Group 1: Figures of authority
Group 2: Economic realities of the characters & how they are represented
Group 3: Chamoiseau (the author) as a character in his own novel
Group 4: Linguistic diversity/multiplicity of discourses in Solibo Magnificent
Group 5: Elements of carnival in the novel
Group 6: The use of digressions (including footnotes) and liminal texts (i.e. texts outside the strict narrative, prologues, epilogues, etc.)
Group 7: Physical spaces & how they play out in the text
Group 8: Solibo Magnificent as detective fiction
Note: for each character/chapter, each member of the group will:
a. Describe the type of narration used to present the characters;
b. Identify the characters' origin & attempt to reconstitute a genealogical tree or comment on the impossibility of doing so;
c. Identify the characters' main motivation (primary emotional wound, desire, conflict, values, etc.,) in life, illustrating with evidence from the text;
d. Explain each character's evolution or lack thereof in the text;
e. Describe each character's relationship to other members of the community;
f. Describe each character's relationship to Francis Sancher.
Group 1: Moïse the Postman & Cyrille
Group 2: Mira
Group 3: Aristide & Rosa
Group 4: Mama Sonson & Carmélien
Group 5: Joby & Vilma
Group 6: Dinah & Désinor
Group 7: Sonny & Dodose Pélagie
Group 8: Loulou & Lucien Evariste
Group 9: Sylvestre Ramsaran & Emile Etienne
Group 10: Léocadie Timothée & Xantippe
Group 1: The character of Cocotte
Group 2:
The character of Violaine
Group 3: The characters Philippe-Edouard, Alexandre & Mme Delavigne
Group 4: Vodou in the novel (but omitting the concept of zombification)
Group 5: Catholicism in the novel
Group 6: Zombification
Group 7: Healing in the novel
Group 8: Taboos, transgressions & sacrifices
Group 1: Representations of the cyclone
Group 2: Fate vs. individual choice/responsiblity
Group 3: Materialism vs. poverty
Group 4: Places and spaces in the text
Group 5: The role of music in the text
Group 6: Speaking vs. silence/forgetting
Group 7: Paradise vs. hell/suffering
Group 8: Violence vs. healing
Page last updated July 30, 2009