Abstract EN:

This ph. D analyses the problem of the Antillean identity in the four novels of Andre and Simone Schwarz-Bart : Un plat de porc aux bananes vertes, Pluie et vent sur telumee miracle, Ti Jean l'horizon et la mulatresse solitude. All of them published were published at Seuil between 1968 and 1979. Part i in this thesis first examines the identity of the author and his her motives for writing. Secondly, it looks into the reasons why the female character is predominant in the novels of the authors as well as in the matrifocal society of the French Antilles (in past and present). Finally, it questions the notion of "antillean literature" and proposes a new definition making use of notions such as "postmodern, postcolonial, black diaspora" etc. The aim of this redefinitioin is to show that antillean literature results from creolisation and has a many-coloured specificity. Part II focuses on the function of the narrator in the "paratexte" (the place of the intertextuality) as well as in the "test". The narrator is called a "pileur de la roche opaque" (glissant) because he reveals the guadeloupean past ; he is a "djobeur de l'ame collective" showing what exactly 'antillanite' should be. The female narrator is a "marqueuse de la parole", a "scribouilleuse" (chamoiseau). The last chapter in this part examines the incipit : time, place and myth mix in the opening scene of the novels. The last part investigates on antillean identity in the four novels which prove to be four quests of identity. At every stage (infancy, adult life and old age), the main character discovers a universe characterized by duality, where conflicts appear between black white, wife man, mother father. In a colorist society, opposite values or ideology's (assimilation indigenisation) prevail. These crisis of identity can be overcome if one transcends.