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History, Violence And Poetics: Saint-John Perse And René Char, Nathan Bracher
History, Violence And Poetics: Saint-John Perse And René Char, Nathan Bracher
Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature
This essay explores the parallel yet opposite stances taken both personally and textually by Perse and Char with respect to drama of World War II. While Perse remained disdainfully aloof from public affairs after the defeat and proclaimed in his poetry his solidarity with all humanity, Char explicitly linked his writing to events, yet sought to create a human space removed from history's upheavals. Striving to transcend the vicissitudes of individual existence, Perse celebrates an epic vision of history that overlooks and even condones its violence. Focusing on the inconsistent, fragmentary nature of existence, Char prevents us from having any …
The Politics Of Exile: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy, Gay Wilentz
The Politics Of Exile: Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy, Gay Wilentz
Studies in 20th & 21st Century Literature
Ama Ata Aidoo's Our Sister Killjoy or Reflections from a Black-Eyed Squint is a relentless attack on the notions of exile as relief from the societal constraints of national development and freedom to live in a cultural environment conducive to creativity. In this personalized prose/poem, Aidoo questions certain prescribed theories of exile (including the reasons for exile)—particularly among African men. The novel exposes a rarely heard viewpoint in literature in English—that of the African woman exile. Aidoo's protagonist Sissie, as the "eye" of her people, is a sojourner in the "civilized" world of the colonizers. In this article, I examine …