The Sense of Community in French Caribbean Fiction by Celia Britton

Abstract

878 Reviews his way through despair. VHomme revolte,Orme argues, was in part a way for Camus to purge his anguish at having supported capital punishment during the post-Liberation purges, thereby increasing injustice at the very moment when he believed thathe was serving justice. But VHomme revolted attack on revolutionary violence led to accusations of self-righteousmoralizing, while Camus's search for a solution to theAlgerian conflictwhich would safeguard the European community and do justice to the indigenous population without conceding independence was doomed to failure. Thereafter, torn apart by thewar and by his inability, in his private life, to practise the justice that he had preached in public, Camus would campaign against specific injustices such as the death penalty, and seek peace of mind in a return tohis roots (Le Premier Homme). In his conclusion Orme suggests thatCamus is closer to JohnRawls than John StuartMill in his understanding of justice* (p. 208), being concerned with fairness rather than utilitarian calculations of maximum aggregate benefit. Unlike either Rawls or Mill, however, Camus never developed a theory of justice and defined what hemeant by social justice only once, speaking invague terms against privilege and in favour of equality of opportunity. Orme's achievement is to have created a narrative from Camus*s scattered pronouncements on the topic, including his famous declaration?referring to the danger thatmembers of his familymight fall victim to FLN terrorism?that he would defend hismother before justice. InOrmes view, Camus thereby tacitly acknowledged the justice of theAlgerian cause, but also implied that 'human life is more precious than all abstract notions of justice* (p. 194). Raising a number of important issues thatdeserve to be pursued in future research, this is ameticulous study,with an extensive bibliography and notes, and will prove a valuable resource for anyone wishing to investigate the subject. University of Central Lancashire Neil Foxlee The Sense ofCommunity inFrench Caribbean Fiction. By Celia Britton. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 2008. vii+256pp. ?50. ISBN 978-184631-137-6. Axiom warns against judging a book by its cover. In the case of Celia Britton's most recent book, if the cover is initially deceptive, itultimately proves revealing, providing an entry-point to the nuanced and thought-provoking analyses within. The theme that links Britton's discussions of seven very differentnovels from the French Caribbean is that of community; what the cover does not broadcast is that Britton's primary project is to reread a familiar corpus in the light of thework of French philosopher Jean-LucNancy. The book opens with a substantial introduction that provides both an overview of Nancy's theorization of community and a map of how Britton will apply it to the Caribbean context. Britton's discussion of Nancy's work is at once dense and remarkably clear; she negotiates the threads of jargon deftly, relyingmainly on English translations, but making pertinent reference to the original French as needed to clarify nuance or, indeed, neologism (e.g. comparution', rendered in MLR, 104.3, 2009 879 English as 'compearance' (p. 11)). Her precision that forNancy sense' implies not abstract meaning but coexistence or touch (p. 16) gestures towards the complexity imbedded inher study's title. The book is comprised of seven chapters, each focused on a specific novel. As a group, Britton's choices suggest a canonical reading of Antillean literature, covering the best-known authors from the region, ifnot always their best-known work: Jacques Roumain's Gouverneurs de la rosee (1946); Edouard Glissant's Le Quatrieme Siecle (1964); Simone Schwarz-Bart's Pluie et vent sur Telumee Miracle (1972); Patrick Chamoiseau's Texaco (1992); Daniel Maximin's Vile une nuit (1995); and Maryse Conde's Desiderada (1997). The one novel likely to be less familiar to readers isVincent Placoly's VEau-de-mort Guildive (1973). Because Britton's book is addressed to specialists, she provides scant background information about the textsor their authors. Still, one of the evident challenges of Britton's project ishow to 'make sense' of texts that are, in fact,worlds apart.While she avoids the trap of synthesizing the disparate?her conclusion highlights rather the telling differences among the novels discussed?as a presentation of French Caribbean fiction...