Elusive Origins: The Enlightenment in the Modern Caribbean Historical Imagination

The divergence of forms and discourse on the Enlightenment among the European countries was reproduced among the slavery- dominated colonial societies of the Carribean, contends "comparativist" Miller (PhD, Emory U.). While Cuban author Alejo Carpentier's novel El siglo de las luces (1982) imported the French Revolution to the islands, the mixed results of the 18th century reforms in the colonies called into question the appropriation of Enlightenment ideals. Through the works of writers including Carpentier, Marie Chaveuvet (Haiti), and Maryse Conde (Guadeloupe), he views how binary thinking, e.g., master/slave, center/periphery, still permeates contemporary Afro-Caribbean perceptions of Enlightenment roots of modernity and post-modernity. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Paul B. Miller is Assistant Professor in the Department of French and Italian at Vanderbilt University, specializing in Caribbean Studies.