Comparative Studies and the Literature of the Caribbean
Author(s): Silvia García Sierra and Ileana Sanz
Source: Caribbean Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1/2 (1993), pp. 1-10
Published by: Institute of Caribbean Studies, UPR, Rio Piedras Campus
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Comparative
Studies
and the Literature
of theCaribbean*
Silvia Garcia
Sierra and Ileana Sanz
The critic interested in problems ofmethodology and literarycriti
cism is faced with a greater number of obstacles when dealing with
Caribbean
than with
literature,
that have
literatures
a
suitable
theoryor body of criticism arising from the typological features of
their own works.
Such
are the literatures
ofWestern
Europe which,
on paradigms
of value, have been the
of one of the major
challenges
facing Spanish
and Caribbean
criticism:
the attempt to fit works
literary
they are
cause
involuntary
because
American
into the models
founded
and systematic
categories
of Western
criticism.
Secure in the "privateer" rights acquired by virtue of having
the
the first to lay claim to a share of the so-called New World,
our
for
of
critic
created
and
European
systems
thought
analysis
cultural
This
reality which came from his own cultural models.
been
critic never
or
faced with problems
of non-suitability
the
and
theories
critical
formulae
and
inadequacy
existing
in question.
the works
to do an inventory of
Without
pretending
or
these callenges,
in the
of the difficulties
through which criticism
context has had to pass, we will call attention to the most
colonial
found himself
between
pressing.
- How should these literaturesof theCaribbean be identified?
By their linguistic affiliation? Francophone, Anglophone?
Perhaps language defines their identities? And ifwe accept
this approach, how do we include in this body of literature
literary productions
*
rendered
in Creole
languages?
Institute of Caribbean
English version prepared by Carolyn Allen,
of the West
November
1991.
Indies, Mona.
CARIBBEAN
STUDIES,
Vol.
26, 1-2, (1993):
1-10 .
1
Studies,
University
2
-
How
Silvia
do we analyse
Garcia
Sierra
and
genres which
Ileana
come
Sanz
of
from the substratum
morality?
- What is the
primary function of these literatures?
- How do we handle
problems of reception in a bilingual and/or
diglossic context?
- Are Western
and suffi
of literary analysis adequate
methods
of these litera
of the specificities
cient for an understanding
tures?
- What
in their development?
determinant
is the socio-cultural
The metropolitan or the regional? On what premises can we
establish
parallels
between
the emitting
culture
the re
and
ceiver? Do we hold only to extraliterary principles of a
historical and social nature or do we rely on their typological
similarities? Ifwe opt for the second alternative, is there
us to
perhaps a development in literarycriticismwhich allows
the typological
compare
literatures?
- How
affinities
which
exist between
these
context in which
in a colonial
interpret "influence"
but imposed?
not
is
the interliterary relationship
spontaneous
do we
As a positive or negative sign?
answers to all these
imagine that we can provide
of a
the subject
form
could
which
each,
separately,
questions,
intent
is to
Our
researcher.
thesis for a most ambitious
doctoral
a short in-road into the
stimulate
thought on these issues and make
areas
the four language
in
of
three
criticism
state
of
current
literary
and
the
and the Caribbean:
of South America
English
Spanish,
the
of
the usefulness
with a view to establishing
French-speaking,
and Francophone
(The terms Anglophone
perspective.
comparative
to spare us
but merely as a convenience
are used not for validation,
Of course,
we don't
listing the countries which make up these linguistic areas.)
The first to take this route were Spanish Americans,
decades
works
ahead
of great
of their Caribbean
consequence
And
counterparts.
for the understanding
so we
and
three
have
study
of
Jos6 Antonio
Spanish American literature like that of theCuban,
Alfonso
the
of
and
Mexican,
de
Portuondo, Concepto
poesia (1944)
aria
a
liter
teoria
la
(1944), to
Reyes, El deslinde: Prolegdmenos
in this
But the real "boom"
cite only two representative
examples.
of literary
kind of criticism comes in the 70s, with the contribution
Jaime
of
stature
Rama,
the
of
Duque,
Mejias
studies by critics
Angel
Comparative
Studies and
the Literature
3
of the Caribbean
Antonio Cornejo Polar, Nelson Osorio, Hugo Achugar and others,
restated
who
mous
The
the urgent need
a scientific
to consolidate
literary criticism.1
Spanish-American
of the criticism of Caribbean
panorama
In
matter.
the
case
of
the
and autono
literature
so-called
Guadeloupe,
Guyana
(Martinique,
of a search
marks
the beginning
Francophone
this decade
and Haiti),
for their own
is another
countries
of the 70s
historiography,
which, emphasising the formal values of these texts, is reflected in
the appearance of literaryhistories and anthologies which affirm
their American
and validate
identities.
and Caribbean
We
can cite
the case of theHistoire de la literature haitienne (1975), by the
critics Raphael Berrou and Pradel Pompilus or more recently, La
literature des Antilles-Guyane Francaise (1978) by JackCorzani,
which have the unquestionable merit of allowing us to see the
literature more closely from a Caribbean
point of view, which does
the imprint of colonial
not debar, however,
thought in its very
the concept of genre and the very periodization
Given
formulation.
to the popu
which this criticism proposes,
literary forms belonging
are
of orality,
of these countries,
like the products
lar culture
ignored, for this periodization begins in the XIX century with
Caribbean literaturewhich iswritten inFrench, the language of the
metropole. The richuniverse of theoral traditionwhich fed and still
feeds
with
literature
such power
the best of contemporary
The
assessments.
these
from
remains excluded
countries,
is quite
Haiti
case
of
years it has been studied
coun
from the list of Francophone
to the French Antilles.
At best we have
since
particular
and is excluded
for many
independently
tries when reference is made
come across comparative
studies which
other contexts
in these
further afield
link Haitian
like Canada.2
Certainly
it from its sister
evolution
literature with
the historical
of Haiti
Francophone
distinguishes
but this does
islands, still in these days of French neocolonialism,
to have
not mean
that its literature ceases
important similarities
with the literaturesof other countries of the region, including not
only theFrancophone but theSpanish-speaking as well, and yet, as
far as we
The
know, no such study exists.
case of the so-called
Anglophone
Caribbean
are more
is even more
rare here, than in the
specialized
a Eurocentric
and
suffer
the
of
from
former,
presence
spirit
equally
in the valuation
of some of its best productions,
which, because
they
to genres derived from orality, have not been sanctioned
by
belong
uncertain
since
studies
4
Silvia
I am referring
criticism.
Western
Sierra
Garcia
Ileana
and
Sanz
to those which
show new
artistic
codes as in thecase ofDUB poetrywhich participates in thewritten
of
conditions
in the verbal act through the personal
and especially,
the poet who reads his poem.
Another
important limitation in literary criticism from the world
of the Anglophone
of this
elements
islands is the undervaluing of some typical
as
such
literature,
the Creole
and
language
the
autochthonous culture of its texts. I am thinkingofLouis James and
his critical work The Islands inBetween (1968), the limitations of
which were brought togetherby theBarbadian criticEdward Kamau
in the article
Brathwaite
critics"
"Caribbean
in Roots.3
published
To Brathwaite falls the historical merit of having been one of the
criticism
first and few to confront Western
ment
and pass
critical
judge
on
and inadequacies.
its distortions
If we had to do a general evaluation
to point out
have
region, we would
character
monographic
in the
of literary criticsm
the
a primary
feature,
which
in
studies
these
that predominates
as
almost always appear by countries or by linguistic groups. Though
thismay well allow us to delve deeply into the specifics of each
national
us
it moves
production,
away
from the larger
objective
search
which ought to be kept inmind by regional criticism?the
for those common elements which allow us to identifywith each
other
behind
the artificial
and unreal
barriers
which
exist
in our
literatures.
which we
or weaknesses
all the limitations
Notwithstanding
us a satisfactory
pan
pointed out earlier, a general purview gives
toward
it as a necessary
ifwe understand
orama,
phase
preliminary
the different
between
and mutual
understanding
self-knowledge
with this
to
break
efforts
even though major
national
literatures,
balkanized
image
of the area may
not be the central
interest of the
critics.
The situation however, improves in the decade of the 80's, the
panorama
becomes
certainly
more
encouraging,
allowing
us to see
in the distance the beginnings of a breaking down of these famous
studies which put
barriers, with an increase in comparative
of the pluricultural
forward an understanding
region, not balkanized,
we note in Process
So
its
of
but through
integrative components.
cultural
Unity in Caribbean Society:
published
inMinnesota,
United
Ideologies and Literature (1983),4
States
by a group of researchers
and
critics who begin with a framework similar to thatof the Spanish
Studies and the Literature
Comparative
of the Caribbean
5
con
to the Caribbean
of the 40*s, but applied
revolve around the necessity
of re-evaluat
with attention to the specifics
ing existing criteria for periodization,
of the history,
culture and literature of the region;
the lack of
American
criticism
text. Their
discussions
and terms for a satisfactory
categories
our similarities
reflects the need tomeasure
suitable
which
appraisal,
not only through
but above all, through that
such efforts we must make
already
social and/or historical
which
is properly
characteristics,
aesthetic.
Among
mention of the excellent book Antilia retrouvee (1983) by the critic
Jean Claude
Bajeux5
who
undertakes
the comparative
of
analysis
thepoetic works of threegreatCaribbean writers belonging to three
different
Pal6s
linguistic
regions:
Matos
of Puerto Rico
Luis
MacKay,
Aim6 C6saire.
a valorizing
nature
of an ideothematic
premise
poetry, the writer has selected essential
aspects of the work
in order to infer from them typological
these three writers
Starting
?Black
of
the Jamaican, Claude
and the Martinican,
with
valid for the three areas.
generalizations
efforts and contributions
which
create
that truly inter-cultural dialogue
a distinct
artistic
image which
definition
for "Latin American"
which
allows
are happy to see such
favourable
conditions
for
We
is the only way
us to sustain
and "Caribbean"
to establish
a scientific
in the artistic
and
literary realm.
The
Problem
of Methodology
It is no secret that both literary method and theory respond, or at
least ought to respond, to a determined
concept of the world. Up to
a
decade
ago, Spanish-American
scarcely
literary criticism was
a
accused
of
which attacked what the formal
being
"sociologism"
ists called
ary work
Retamar,
a liter
that which distinguishes
"literariness",
meaning
from an essay, for example.
The Cuban
critic Fernandez
in his work
una
Para
teoria
de
la literatura
hispanoamericana,
problematic.
can Alfonso
set out by Portuondo
assessments ?the
phenomenological
echoes
the ideas
on
this
Mexi
Reducing
cited among them?,
he upholds
the notion of
Reyes
a
as
social fact
dominant feature of the Spanish-American
novelistic
tradition and underlines
its instrumental
role in the historical
pro
cess of the respective nations inwhich "dado el car?cter dependiente,
de nuestro
precario
incumbir
funciones
histtfrico, a la literatura
en las grandes metropolis
?mbito
que
le han
le han
solido
sido
6 Silvia
Garcia
Sierra
and
Ileana
Sanz
the dependent
and precarious
ya a aqu?lla"
segregadas
(given
nature of our historical
on functions
to
literature
had
has
take
ambit,
from which
it had
already
been
cut off in the large metropolises).6
It is our belief that although one cannot deny the pertinence of
social
fact
established
in our
between
region
today,
certain
Spanish-American
need
to be
those
of the
differences
and
literature
Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean. The eminently bilingual
or diglossic
nature
problematic
search
of
the countries
for new strategies
in these
two areas,
of communication
and
the
capable
of
satisfying the exigencies of a linguistically divided audience (met
ropolitan and Creole languages) has placed the studyof language, its
forms and
in current
its relationships,
literary criticism
oral forms, even within
in the centre of debates
and reflections
of
the emergence
uses the metropoli
there.
Undoubtedly
literary discourse which
tan language (be itEnglish or French), ismarking thebeginning of
in the region in which
studies with a
stage for criticism
or
That is to say, we
focus will dominate.
linguistic
semiological
a refunctionalization
is
believe
that in these literatures
process
a new
under
way
which
places
social
and
aesthetic
fact on
the same
hierarchical level, such that along with problems related to the
to the
takes on issues relating
of a history, criticism
founding
creation of a distinct artistic image for self expression.
we
these literatures with that of Spanish America,
Comparing
see that they all retain, as a common feature, this practical
function,
the
in the latter, this functional
change which prioritizes
although
of what some
No doubt the emergene
is not noticeable.
aesthetic
a "poetics
introduces
of orality"
have called
important modifica
to the very nature of the work,
level.
above
all, on the structural
tions
not only on the linguistic, but
in
to narrative
This
applies
literature and to poetry in the Anglophone.
Francophone
introduce new ways
which
that the narrative processes
So we
see
of telling
or omniscient
story
of a narrator
(contar)
through the presence
formula which organized
break with theWestern
teller (cuentero),
to Cartesian
narrative
structure
of
the
the internal
logic,
according
in
the oral narrative
and introduce a norm based on the 'illogical'
seeking to reproduce within
spurts out in a burst of memory,
In the case of poetry,
structure of thought.
the text, the disjointed
the act
between
boundaries
the
erased
of the oral has
the presence
in the new
the importance
and the verbal
of writing
act, given
of presenta
poetry, of gesture and the conditions
Anglo-Caribbean
which
Studies and the Literature
Comparative
of the Caribbean
1
the
In these countries,
for the poet's performance.
tion necessary
a very
movements
has marked
and Reggae
influence of the Rasta
criticism with the
confronts
evolution
which
inevitably
specific
of redefining
urgency
the boundaries
of genre
and of restating what
literature is in these dependent countrieswhose literaryproducts go
beyond the possiblities of analysis offered byWestern criticism.
This broadening of the aesthetic function to which we have
referred ?contrary
tendencies
derived
to developments
in European
from theories of art for art's
literatures
sake?
with
far from
him from the
in an Ivory Tower
and separating
of communicating
with his society, presents him with
the writer
situating
possibility
for a wider
communication,
given the signifi
In the Spanish
feeds
his
work.
cantly popular
not
world
this
has
with as much
phenomenon
appeared
speaking
the phenomenon
of interlinguistic
force, since, although
rivalry
possibilities
social
character
which
the Spanish
language and Creoles exists there as well, these
or new
not
structural modifications
confrontations
do
introduce
between
of aesthetic
proposals
form as in the preceeding
cases.
We find there is a risk in applying to Caribbean literature, the
modern
ods
methods
are based
These meth
from linguistics.
signs, with the main objective
of the structures and functions of the text.
of analysis derived
on codes and abstract
being the understanding
The practice of criticism from this perspective
may take two distinct
the
of each
forms:
the
of
text,
metalanguage
firstly,
analysis
from its social referent, decontextualized,
for the
detached
which,
the boundaries
of the
literatures of our countries means
obscuring
and ignoring or undervaluing
of literary development
national
the process
of national
the weight of social reality in
in our countries.
This erasirte
tends
these days?
is so popular
on models
consecrated
already
by
the so-called
of course, exclude
"cultured"
culture, which would,
the productions
which have not as yet codified
their artistic image
with
their own voice.
there is the approach
which,
Secondly,
with
beginning
highlights
A critical
selected
not, we
distinctions
?which
a standardization
towards
these
based
the semiotic,
identifying
of our
rapprochement
method, provided
it does
run the risk of being
cannibalism
of the West.
Regional
formal
elements
criticism
tools of sign and structure,
that fix national
specificity.
literatures
not exclude
once more
in the Caribbean
may be based on any
if
the social element;
the victims
has already
of the cultural
provided
some
8
answers
Silvia
Garcia
Sierra
and
lleana
to the irruption of new challenges
Sanz
by this literary
presented
vanguard. The French Caribbean offers admirable works which
have contributed to increasing the tools of criticism throughstudies
carried out by the team fromG.E.R.E.C.
(Group for Studies and
Research into theCreole Space), founded in 1976 at theUniversity
on an interdisciplinary
Antilles-Guyane,
Martinique,
around the common desire to understand
themeaning
in the broadest
project centred
of "creoleness"
sense.
Its organ, the review Espace
and enriching way to giving
and concepts
categories,
terminology
in a systematic
contributed
literary products
Creole
has
to these new
appropriate
for studying them scientifically. The Anglophone Caribbean lags
behind,
although
an awareness
and
of these phenomena
the ad
equate analysis of themmay have been noted by isolated figures.7
We
are convinced
that the only way
to confront
the current
chal
lenge which faces regional criticism is throughthebreaking of the
artificial linguistic and cultural barriers within which we have
locked
ourselves,
literature.
The
value
bean
The
in a search
of comparative
line we
have
taken
in our art and our
for commonality
of the Carib
for the literature
studies
so far brings
us to subscribing
to methods
proposed by comparatism in order to delineate similarities and
differences
in our American
art.
Every
comparison
outlines
the
individual at the same time thatithelps in locating theanalogies and
The ultimate objective of comparatism
regularities within processes.
of encom
a
of
is#the elaboration
literary theory, capable
general
passing all existing literatures including and especially thosewhich
various
"centres"
have
suborndinated
them "periph
by considering
eral".
on so
based
If yesterday
sought out analogies
comparatism
or periph
called "influences",
(which for literatures in the colonial
eral context(s) implied a dangerous subordination), today this sci
ence has shifted its object of study to the analysis of indirect
contacts,
interchange
that is to say, contacts
(translations,
which
historiography,
occur
not
relations
through direct
between writer),
but through the existence of a common history and past. It is this
kind of contact which
and the Czechs
Rumanian
comparatists
called
"parallelisms"
"typological affinities". And this is why the
Studies and
Comparative
9
of the Caribbean
is important
studies
of comparative
objective
theLiterature
and
for Caribbean
Spanish American literature(s),which have developed in different
but with a similar historical
contexts
presence
substratum
even where
of "parallelisms"
which
it is known
the
explains
that no direct
links ever existed between them. This is the case with literaturesof
the French, English and Spanish Caribbean which have points of
in this way. This initial assertion
affinity that can only be explained
these
which
literatures,
emerge from a metropolitan
explains why
more
are
to
other
than to the respective
similar
each
plurality,
metropolis.
Comparatists,
pressed
tours of the so-called
"pheripheral"
of reception
depths of the problem
by the need to define the con
literatures, strove to sound the
in a context of
of "influences"
or simple subordination
and this is why they maintain
dependency
the influence which
is received
of reception,
that, in the process
from thehegemonic culturedoes not implypassive imitationbut has
a creative
since
character,
the subordinate
or peripheral
culture
is
selective, recreating only those elements which its tradition is able
to assimilate,
leaving
of
This
problem
aside
important peculiarities
since this process does
is truly foreign to it.
in the colonial
context has
that which
influence
very
of our art
for an adequate
understanding
not occur in the same way between
consoli
or reception
in which
does not
the "influence"
risk
of
loss
of
presuppose
any
identity.
In the Caribbean
of reception of the Euro
context this process
in a situation of permanent
conflict or chal
pean element occurs
dated
literatures
lenge with
the metropolitan
culture,
to the extent
that in some cases,
the foreign element is not understood as an integral part of the
of the country in question.
Thus we have
the
heritage
of the English
and French Caribbean,
where the metropoli
tan language
is (sometimes)
assumed
it is not assimi
conflictually,
culture
instance
lated
critically
literature, since
a positive
sign, as is the case with Hispanic
of the Creole languages
the weight of subjection
by
is so strong that linguistic problems
in literary
as
the metropolitan
are lived
discourse
in a dramatic
way.
This
problematic
is of
tremendous importance ifwe bear inmind that itwil be impossible
to speak of "national
in these countries
consciousness"
an integrative
not
in
have
succeeded
they
forgoing
capable
element
of not excluding
of its identity.
Reception
from its cultural
then, in the colonial
context,
pantheon
as long as
self-image
any constitutive
is a subject
as important
10
and crucial
one
to have
Silvia
Garcia
Sierra
and
Ileana
Sanz
as it is virginal; American
criticism
echoed
it. It is urgent that American
is almost
the only
should
aesthetes
face these new challenges which modernity imposes on our art, in
order to make possible this project of establishing, through a
scientific
and
existence
as "other".
autonomous
criticism,
a true artistic
image
of our
Notes
1.
2.
Achugar, Hugo:
Casa. No.
110.
Maximilien:
Laroche,
et d'Haiti.
Quebec
3.
Notaspara
1978. Cuba.
Brathwaite,
literario
Edward:
un debate
la crttica
literaria
de la mitomorphose.
du Jour. Canada.
1970.
Essai
sobre
Le miracle
Editions
Roots.
Editora
Casa
de las Americas.
Process
Ileana, Marc Zimmerman:
Rodriguez,
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