Caribbean Fusions
“Crossings Propelled by Death: Transcending National, Religious and Ethnic Identities in Les Belles Ténébreuses”
Death, a recurrent theme in the works of Maryse Condé, can be understood as the imaginary space of contact where characters struggling with self-definition and self-invention must face the reality of a shifting world. As it is often the case with crossroads, death becomes a fertile ground for new relationships to emerge, challenging traditions and replacing old beliefs.
I propose to look at how death in Les Belles Ténébreuses serves as both the site and the vehicle for unmaking old notions of belonging. Kassem, Condé’s antihero in this novel, incarnates the consequences of failing to imagine a world that transcends national, religious and ethnic identities. His lack of courage to defend his migration, his silence when confronted with paternalistic influences and his inability to recognize that borders have ceased to exist drive his tragic destiny. If we accept that “art is always conflict”, as Eisenstein explained the mission, nature and methodology of his creative engagement in film, death is where this collision finds articulation in Les Belles Ténébreuses. I will attempt to elucidate how death scenes in the novel serve as a production ritual where Condé invites the reader to critically interrogate whether identity can still be defined in terms of origins and what-if any- solutions can be discerned from her characters.
