Florence Ramond Jurney  (Gettysburg College)
Embracing Globalization: Caribbean Literature and Contemporary Global Theories

When Edouard Glissant first published his novel Tout-Monde (1993), he announced it as an example of new trends in the making in literature, fitting nicely with the economic discussions on globalization. He outlined his ideas in a later book, Traité du Tout-Monde (1997), in an attempt to theorize global movements of ideas, people, and goods. Heavily influenced by his earlier writings on the theory of relation, Traité du Tout-Monde offers a mapping of the twenty-first century novel. This paper will first question the "Tout-Monde" theory and analyze its relationship-if any-with postcolonial theory.

Many Caribbean women writers refuse to be labeled, and especially to be locked in a specific school of thought. Yet, their writings are reflecting trends similar to or opposing those followed by men. Some of Maryse Condé's novels-Moi, Tituba sorcière (1986) comes to mind-have been labeled feminist, even though the author refuses that label; Gisèle Pineau has been described as a disciple of créolité, and yet she excludes herself from that movement; other Caribbean authors (Anglophone Jamaica Kincaid or Hispanophone Cristina García for example) have not been studied in light of those theories coming from the Francophone islands. My paper will thus address these problems in a second part, trying to specifically focus on the following questions: are Caribbean women authors writing "Tout-Monde" novels? How have the themes presented in their novels evolved in the last thirty years? Can the idea of a "Tout-Monde" novel transcend gender boundaries?

Glissant's ideas are grounded in the Francophone experience, and include the problematic status of Martinique and Guadeloupe (still part of the French territory), while many of their Caribbean neighbors have achieved an independent status. The third part of this paper will focus on the possibility of applying the "Tout-Monde" theory to the entire Caribbean through selected literary examples: how much do different historical experiences influence the narratives that bring them forward? In what ways do various postcolonial realities change the contemporary Caribbean novel as it is itself confronted with the global actuality of our time?