David Kinloch , Richard Price (review)

Abstract

MLR,96.3,200 I 843 Chanceshows how,becauseofthepolitical impasse, andtheabsenceofthe reader, literary creolite exists on theleveloftheimagination. Thisimagination challenges (neo-) colonial versions ofhistory, and,bygiving valuetoorality, with its multiplicity of(hi)stories, proposes newinterpretations ofthe past, the present, and therelationship between thetwo.Chancediscusses how,totheAntillean, writing hasbeenseenasaninstrument ofoppression, andhowthis hascreated a deepsense of mistrust towards written language.Wherewriting is immobilization and emasculation, theoralrepresents freedom, poetry, andspontaneity. Thenarrators oftheFrench Caribbean novel arethus inanalmost impossible position; refusing thetitle ofecrivain, they define themselves as 'marqueurs deparole', intermediaries between theworld oftheoral,andtheunfamiliar, uncomfortable domain ofthe written. Chancedemonstrates howthedramaofthese novels centres around the situation of the'marqueurs de parole',and theirattempts to synthesize the contradictory forces atwork intheir cultural andpolitical context. Thequestion of language isinevitably foregrounded, andChanceskilfully delineates theproblems ofwriting inan'authentic' creole, without further increasing thesense ofbetrayal andguiltShefinds that, justasthere isnot yet a true literature, Cauthentic' language isitself 'ensouffrance'. Inher conclusion, Chance implicitly agrees with Glissant that any solution tothis condition ofstasis will only comewith anendtotheneo-colonial political situation intheislands. Only then will the reader, the writer, andthe literature betruly born. Fornow, however, asChance's excellent study shows, the process ofgiving birth is providing some ofthe most fascinating andchallenging contemporary reading. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE CORK MARTIN MUNRO La;MouvelleAlliance. infuencesfrancophones sur lalitterature ecossaise moderne. Ed.byDAVID KINLOCH AND RICHARD PRICE. Grenoble: ELLUG. 2000.264PP. I40F. Despiteitsofficial conclusion bytheActofUnionin I707,the'AuldAlliance' continued tothrive throughout theeighteenth century with theperpetuation of Franco-Scottish dialogue inpolitics, philosophy and thearts.Bythetwentieth century, the political dimension hadbeeneclipsed bynewaxesofpower, but, asthe ten contributions (together with the useful introduction andbibliographical annexe) inthis volume show, Francophone influence onScottish culture persists. Hereitis the nature ofthe Alliance which isinquestion, theambiguous 'Nouvelle' ofthe title suggesting either the continuity ofrenewal orthe discontinuity ofnew beginnings. Although thesubtitle isperhaps a little misleading (IanHamilton Findlay's work cannotbe reduced to literature and Kenneth White's affiliation to anysingle national tradition remains problematic), whatemerges from thiswide-ranging collection ofessays isa sense ofcomplexity. Thecontributors explore a number of dialogues, someofwhichare surprising (HughMacDiarmid and PaulValery, studied byAlanRiach;NeilM. Gunn andMarcel Proust, byRichard Price), others morecontroversial (Finlay and Saint-Just, studied in thecontext ofthe I989 Bicentenary celebrations inGavin Bowd's essay). Aninterest amongst contemporary Scottish authors inlater nineteenth-century French literature (Graeme MacDonald focuses onJamesKelman'srelationship to Zola; RobinPurves explores Frank Kuppner's interaction with Lautreamont) suggests notonly that there isa tendency todraw onprevious traditions, butalsothat there arenowfew dialogues between actualcontemporaries (suchas thatbetween RousseauandDavidHume).The collection alsoreveals another important change. Thenotion ofa Franco-Scottish axisofinfluence, whilst emphasizing the diversity ofwhat isunderstood by'British', Revaews 844 cantend toeclipse thecomplexities ofmonolithic notions of'French' culture and identity. Thisvolume refuses categorically tofall into that trap. Christopher Whyte's consideration ofCorbiere andGoodsir Smith underlines, for instance, theBreton aspectsof theformer's work;MicheleDuclos'sdiscussion ofKenneth White similarly stresses theCeltic dimension ofthepoet'sengagement with francophone culture; andfinally, DavidKinloch, inhisfascinating discussion ofMichel Tremblay inScots translation, describes howtheMontreal-Edinburgh axisofthis transfer reconfigures cultural relations byshort-circuiting Paris andLondon. In Kinloch's version, the'New Alliance'is no longer bi-polar butsubject potentially toa series ofpostcolonial exchanges. Hisarticle concludes with a poetic vision ofcontemporary Scottish culture, dynamic andopentoavariety ofreciprocal relationships: 'pareille a lafleche deZenon, quifile dela source a la cible, presente a tout moment etpourtant toujours enmouvement, transformee parchacun des instants desonvolvers l'Autre, instants qu'elletransforme enretour' (p.240).This is verydiffierent from thestatic, introverted tartan exoticism whichis often propagated outwith Scotland, andunderlines therealinterest oftheessays inthis volume for those working onissues oftranslation andinter-cultural contact. The concluding bibliographical essay byPaulBarnaby issobering, however, for itreveals thatJanice Galloway, JeSTorrington, andIainCrichton Smith areyet toappear in French translation andthat only onenovel byeachof James Kelman andAlasdair Gray isavailable toFrench readers. A useful companion volume would reverse the subjectof thisvolumeby considering theCaledonianinfluence on modern Francophone literature. UNIVERSITY OFGLASGOW CHARLES FORSDICK Eraveling <17zeoy: France and the United States. Ed.byIEME VAN DERPOEL andSOPHIE BERTHO. Madison, Teaneck: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; London: AssociatedUniversityPresses- I999. I77pp £28 The interrelationship between travel and theory continues to attract sustained attention ina variety offields. CarenKaplan,for example, hasrecently explored thecomplex debtofcontemporary critical theory to figures ofmobility and displacement (inQuestion ofEravel, Durham, NC, andLondon:DukeUniversity Press, I996),whereas James Clifford, focusing on etymology, hassuggested that theorizing isalways a 'practice oftravel andobservation' ('NotesonTheory and Travel', Inscriptions, 5(I989),I77-88(p. I77)).ItisEdward Said,however, whohas developed themost coherent ideaoftravelling theory, exploring theways inwhich theories aretransformed asthey shift between places andhistorical moments. Said's work hasnotonly inspired thetitle ofthis volume; hiscontribution, that ofa selfconfessed 'participant observer', alsoconcludes this collection ofeight essays (based onpapers delivered ata conference inI994),whose authors track theregeneration and reconfiguration ofAmerican academicculture in thesecondhalfofthe twentieth century in response to thetransatlantic crossings ofFrench critical thought. In thefiveyearsbetween theconference and thisvolume's publication, the subject oftheory anditsimplications for academic practice wereemphasized as a result oftheso-called 'Sokalaiair' andthepublication ofImpostures intellectuelles (Paris: OdileJacob,I997). Said'sessay inparticular isa cautious andconsidered contribution to theserecent debates;qualifying criticism as performance not prescription, he warnsagainst theinstrumentalization, decontextualization and depoliticization oftheory. IemevanderPoel'suseful introduction alludes more ...