Rethinking Marriage In Francophone African And Caribbean Literatures (after The Empire: The Francophone World And Postcolonial France)

Rethinking Marriage in Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France Series Editor Valérie Orlando, University of Maryland Advisory Board Robert Bernasconi, Memphis University; Alec Hargreaves, Florida State University; Chima Korieh, Rowan University; Obioma Nnaemeka, Indiana University; Kamal Salhi, University of Leeds; Tracy D. Sharpley-Whiting, Vanderbilt University; Nwachukwu Frank Ukadike, Tulane University See www.lexingtonbooks.com/series for the series description and a complete list of published titles. Recent and Forthcoming Titles Memory, Empire, and Postcolonialism: Legacies of French Colonialism, edited by Alec G. Hargreaves Ouregano: A Novel, by Paule Constant, translated and annotated by Margot Miller, and introduced by Claudine Fisher The Transparent Girl and Other Stories, by Corinna Bille, selected and translated by Monika Giacoppe and Christiane Makward Time Signatures: Contextualizing Contemporary Francophone Autobiographical Writing from Maghreb, by Alison Rice Breadfruit or Chestnut?: Gender Construction in the French Caribbean Novel, by Bonnie Thomas History’s Place: Nostalgia and the City in French Algerian Literature, by Seth Graebner Collective Memory: France and the Algerian War (1954–1962), by Jo McCormack The Other Hybrid Archipelago: Introduction to the Literatures and Cultures of the Francophone Indian Ocean, by Peter Hawkins Rethinking Marriage in Francophone African and Caribbean Literatures Cécile Accilien LEXINGTON BOOKS A division of ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK LEXINGTON BOOKS A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200 Lanham, MD 20706 Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2008 by Lexington Books First paperback edition 2008 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Accilien, Cécile, 1973– Rethinking marriage in francophone African and Carribean literatures / Cécile Accilien. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. 1. African literature (French)—History and criticism. 2. Caribbean literature (French)—History and criticism. 3. Marriage in literature. 4. Marriage in motion pictures. I. Title. PQ3980.5.A23 2008 840.9'3543—dc22 2007042428 ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-1657-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7391-1657-6 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-7391-1658-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-7391-1658-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) eISBN-13: 978-7391-3201-2 eISBN-10: 0-7391-3201-6 Printed in the United States of America ⬁™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992. In my journey, I have been fortunate to benefit and learn from the strength, guidance, wisdom and struggles of several fanm vanyan. I thank and dedicate this book to some of them who have been rainbows in my clouds. They have touched my path, soul, mind, spirit, and heart in different ways: Veronique Accilien, Anne