History of the West Indies in general, and Guadeloupe in particular, oscillates between historical facts and fictions. How does a simple myth become a definitive history that inspires heroes and political action? How is a myth created? What are the components of the myth of Mulâtresse Solitude, a character who inspired novels of authors such as André Schwarz-Bart and his wife Simone, as well as most accounts of the Resistance in Guadeloupe? How did the myth of Solitude come about, and how do we know she ever really lived?
The key question to be addressed in this talk is the relationship between myth and history on the one hand, and on the other, how a myth takes on a body in literature, painting, and even political discourse, to the point where it presents itself with the mask of history.
The main aim of this talk is to examine the relationship between Literature and Memory, History and Memory, and Fiction and History.
THIS LECTURE IS IN FRENCH
Speaker Background:
Professor Hamot is Agrégée de Lettres Modernes, she earned a PhD at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne (Paris) and Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches (HDR). She is teaching at the University of Antilles Guyane. Her research is at the crossroad of French XIXth Century Philosophy, literature and religious thought. She is also specialist of West Indies' Literature and political thinking.
She is the author of:
Obscur symbole de Lumière. Le mystère dans la poésie de Saint-Pol-Roux , Paris, Honoré Champion
She edited:
Terre(s) promise(s). Représentations et Imaginaires, Paris, Garnier,2021, 2013.
La plume et la Grâce. Littérature et spiritualité du Moyen-Age au XXIe siècle, Paris, Honoré Champion, 2024.
For more information, contact Prof. Jean Godefroy Bidima at jbidima@tulane.edu
