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

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 re¬ceived 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 distanc¬ing 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 of¬ten manifest in guilt and betrayal, central themes that emerge again and again in the work of these writers. Review "[An] engaging, wide-rangingtreatise on self-exiled Caribbean writers. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice "Outstanding. ... The depth of its historicalknowledge and its sustained critique of near-sacrosanct ideas of the Caribbeanmake this a timely book."--The Americas"Boisseron's study is ahighly original, fascinating analysis of an eclectic group of intellectuals andapproaches many issues of fundamental importance for postcolonial and Caribbeanstudies."--Research in African Literatures About the Author Benedicte Boisseron is associate professor of French and Francophone studies at the University of Montana. She is the co-editor of Voix du monde: Nouvelles francophones.