Caribbean Perspectives on Modernity: Returning Medusa's Gaze

209 Pages·2009·1.675 MB·English

by  Maria Cristina Fumagalli

Caribbean Perspectives on Modernity
New World Studies
Silvio A. Torres-Saillant, Editor
J. Michael Dash, Frank Moya Pons,
and Sandra Pouchet Paquet,
Associate Editors
Caribbean Perspectives
on Modernity
Returning Medusa’s Gaze
Maria Cristina Fumagalli
University of Virginia Press
Charlottesville and London
University of Virginia Press
© 2009 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
First published 2009
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fumagalli, Maria Cristina.
Caribbean perspectives on modernity : retuning Medusa’s gaze / Maria
Cristina Fumagalli.
p. cm. — ( New World Studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-8139-2857-9 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-8139-2858-6 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Caribbean literature ( English) — History and criticism. 2. Caribbean Area — In
literature. 3. Modernism ( Literature) — Caribbean Area. I. Title.
pr9205.05.f86 2009
810.9 — dc22
2009016455
To my mother and father,
to Jon,
to Ernesto, the promise
of the future.
One love.
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Breaking Medusa’s Spell 1
1 Abreast with History: Stradanus’s America and
Grace Nichols’s Fat Black Woman 15
2 What It Means to Be Modern: M. P. Shiel’s
The Purple Cloud 32
3 Scapegoating the Mulattos: Maryse Condé’s
La Migration des coeurs 53
4 Before and after Ovid: Metamorphosis in Marlene
Nourbese Philip and Gabriel García Márquez 73
5 Romances That Matter: Lady Mary Wroth’s The
Countesse of Montgomerie Urania and Erna Brodber’s
Jane and Louisa Will Soon Come Home 87
6 Brushing History against the Grain: Derek Walcott’s
Tiepolo’s Hound 105
Conclusion: The Power of Interpellation 135
Notes 139
Bibliography 175
Index 191
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Acknowledgments
It is impossible to be comprehensive: so many people have
contributed to this book. First of all, I wish to thank all my colleagues
and friends who have been extremely supportive throughout the pro-
cess of writing and thinking about this book: in particular, Joan Anim-
Addo, Jeff Geiger, John Haynes, Bénédicte Ledent, Karin Littau, David
Musselwhite, Cristina Pallini, Owen Robinson, Tony Swift, Phil Terry,
and Jonathan White. I am especially indebted to Peter Hulme and Marina
Warner, who read and offered precious suggestions on substantial parts
of the manuscript. To all my beloved students go my warmest thanks for
their patience and enthusiasm: they are an incredible source of strength
and I simply could not have done it without their support. The two anon-
ymous readers who read the manuscript should also be thanked for their
positive response and for their incisive and sympathetic feedback, which
made my monograph a much better one. I am also grateful to Derek
Walcott, who has been extraordinarily generous in allowing me to repro-
duce some of his paintings and for all his wise words. Similarly, Marlene
Nourbese Philip’s warm response to my study of the connections between
her poetry, Ovid, the “Hymn to Demeter,” and the Eleusinian Myster-
ies has been truly encouraging. Cathie Brettschneider at the University
of Virginia Press has been a most understanding and supportive editor:
it has been a real pleasure working with her and with her efficient and
extremely helpful collaborators, Raennah Mitchell, Mark Mones, and
Colleen Romick Clark. Susan Forsyth also deserves a special mention for
her help with different but equally important aspects of the work. I am
grateful to the University of Essex Research Endowment Fund and the
Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies, which funded one
term of study leave to further my research for this book. The prepara-
tion of the manuscript was substantially delayed by my mother’s illness