‘This is a ttle in the CARAF BOOKS series F VIRGINIA THE UNIVERSITY PRESS O ‘Then Chaka shouted to them: “You murder me in the hhope of raking my place after my death; you are mis- Le Discoure Antillas Copytight © Les Editions du Seu 1981 taken, that is nor to be, for Oum‘loungou {the white ‘This ranlaton and edition Copyright © 1989 by the Rector and Visitors ‘ofthe University of Virginia ‘man) ison the move and he will be the one to domi- nate you, and you will become his subjects.” Firs published 1989 Thomas Mofolo First paperback edition 1992 Chaka, Bantou Epic ‘Third paperback printing 1999 Berween Europe and America I see only specks of dust. Attributed to Charles de Gaulle ‘on a visit to Martinique Libeay of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicanon Data (Glissant, Edouard, 1928 [Discours andl. English] Caribbean discourse: elected estays by Edouard Glisant translated and with an introduction by J. Michal Dash em. (CARAF books) But the most powerful language isthe one in which all is said without a word being uttered, Jean-Jacques Rousseau Essay on the Origin of Language ‘Acoma fall down, everybody say the wood rotten Martinican proverb 3, Blacks—Racerdeniy, 4, Nationalism and literaure— West Indies, French—Hisrory—20%h century. 5. Canbbean literature (French)—History and criticism, 6. West Indies, French=-Relanons— sions —West Indies, French. 1. Dash, J A black man is a century. ‘Martinican saying Series ‘An enormous task, to make an inventory of rea 89.5469 amass facts, we make ou comments, but in every cr ten line, in every proposition offered, we have an im pression of inadequacy. Frantz Fanon Black Skin, White Masks Proted inthe United Sates of Amenca F2081 .G5313 1992 Glissant, Edouard, 1928-2011 Caribbean discourse : selected essays230 Caribbean Discourse with an absolute ideal. You choose cither the schematic or the hallowed. Therein lies an extreme openness: through refusal or transcendence, the Western mind admits the disturbing presence of the Other. Saint-John Perse is part of the world, ‘even if he must dazzle ic with glory. In the drama of the mod- ‘em world, his work, which is to construct through language a pure reality (which would then engender any possible reality) is as striking as the ambition of those who wish to elaborate the pure reality of language. Like them, he rejects the eruption of histories; but he feels he should glorify History instead. Rootlessness provides the space for this glorification. He who never stops leaving, whose route is the Sea, and who unleashes the pent-up squalls of the High Plateaus, he is the one who breathes in pure History. Yes. The more intense the wander- ing, the more the word longs for stability. vu French Caribbean people clearly realize that this “need to sta- "" concerns them; but that they still have perhaps to in: vent a syntax, to explore a language that is not yet thers here and now—before they could give its explosive force a shape. Just as Perse often appears in the clearing created by words. likewise think that if he happened to think of Guadeloupeans or Martinicans, of whom he knew so litte (he who dedicated such rare praise to our lands), it was with arrogance, cert but also with regret. fissured by histories; they te- lessly toss aside those who have not had the time ro see selves through a tangle of lianas. vi Beyond all this, Saint-Jobn Perse is still vital to everyone, and this is the most deserving tribute to be made to the poet. ‘When, at the most dense flowering of language and the web woven from countless strands of languages, man wants t01¢- turn to the sources of light, he will understand that th from the depths ofthe French language, has managed to create (extending Segalen the Divided, exceeding Claudel the Catho- Argan OPH 9 lic) a reference fe ‘our Diversity (wi ‘one day need—ir Cultural Identity | now summarize in the form ofa litany the facts of our quest for identity. The litany is more suitable in this domain than a discourse. ‘The slave trade that meant rupture with our matrix (the mother beyond our reach) Slavery as a struggle with no witness (the word whispered in the huts) The visibility of the other (the transparent ideal of universality) ‘The trap of folklore (the denial of consciousness) ‘The trap of citizenship (the obsession of the name) The lingui (dominance) rap Lack of technical expertise (the tool, a strange object) immediacy (the direct effect of pressures) Political timidness (fear of contact with the world)232 Caribbean Discourse Passive consumption (flood of imports) Oblivion {neither doing nor creating) Barter system (Martinique, a country you pass through) The ruse of diversion isdom”) (the final stage of ‘The lure of the Caribbean (the outer edge of space and time) The past recognized {absences overcome) The troubling reality of the nation {the autonomous resolution of class conflict) ‘The oral—the written {the release of inhibitions) A people finding self-expression {the country coming together) A politicized people (a country that acts) unrestrained will fc ality and not falling out of the bl Y the no less firm resolve to resist being locked into the premedi- tated ideological dogma of those who do not focus on the 233 A Caribbean Future cross-cultural contact between peoples; the ideal being a uni- fied whole, a collective and creative daring, to which each one will contribute. any does not come to an end with an amen: for we dimly apparent in the void, deep in the depths of new night for the huts under whose cover we put ‘our voices, first in whispers, a rasping deep in our throat, together. The one and only season ‘The creative imagination is a function of desire, yes, But when desire is forbidden because its aim is irretrievably lost in the depths, the soaring of the imagination is the word summer in French Caribbe re to lly a8 a synonym for ippened on the word in La Lézarde (The ripening) and | was amazed. When I be- came acquainted with the text of Légitime Défense, one of the symptoms of alienation seemed to me to be the frequent use of this word, among people who come from a land of only one season. But how ‘They had migated some time ago. Winter ‘The nimble voice runs in pur- suit of the wind in the streets. The sun has shut off its ‘marshes. We learn to measure the scasonal changes. The word ‘summer brings necessary hope. It happens unconsci have s: