French Literature Reviews - 2026

A.-A. Kekeh-Dika, The Imaginary of Jamaica Kincaid: Variations Around a Caribbean Island
Other Literary Studies

Anne-Andrée Kekeh-Dika, The Imaginary of Jamaica Kincaid: Variations Around a Caribbean Island

Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 2016.

180 pp.

EAN 9791030000375

24.00 EUR

Publisher's Description:

Jamaica Kincaid is one of the most remarkable voices from the small island of Antigua. Having lived in the United States for some forty years, she is the author of a multifaceted and original body of work (novels, short stories, essays, chronicles, travelogues, and books on gardening). Her work occupies the space between a Caribbean literary sphere and a "global" imaginary. The Imaginary of Jamaica Kincaid aims to shed light on her singular body of work and to show how her writing resists overly simplistic labels (such as autobiographical narratives or the Bildungsroman). The approach here is to follow the side paths and pay close attention to what is conveyed by the persistent, seemingly insignificant voices in Jamaica Kincaid’s unclassifiable texts. Through the concept of repetition and everyday motifs (walking, handiwork, gardening, knitting, objects), The Imaginary of Jamaica Kincaid addresses the subtle ways in which her work depicts the inner conflicts of the self and its difficult relationship with the world, family, history, and the written word. Her work highlights the path of small things, tracing trajectories other than straight lines (zigzags, diagonals, broken lines, curves), thereby revealing a shared reservoir of motifs that brings her work into critical resonance with both a Caribbean and a global imaginary.

Regarding the same Caribbean author, see also Alienation and Reinvention in the Work of Jamaica Kincaid by Nadia Yassine-Diab.

Jamaica Kincaid, born in Antigua, is a major figure in postcolonial and Caribbean literature, known for her lyrical prose and sharp critiques of imperialism, family dynamics, and colonial history. Anne-Andrée Kekeh-Dika’s study situates Kincaid’s diverse output—spanning fiction, essays, and gardening memoirs—within both regional and global literary contexts. By focusing on recurring everyday motifs like knitting, walking, and gardening, this critical work moves beyond traditional readings of Kincaid as a purely autobiographical writer. Instead, it highlights how these seemingly minor practices serve as complex metaphors for navigating displacement, memory, and the legacy of colonialism.

This volume is particularly useful for scholars and students of postcolonial literatures, gender studies, and Caribbean cultural history. It addresses crucial questions about how marginalized subjects construct identity and resist historical erasure through non-linear narratives. By examining Kincaid’s use of zigzags, curves, and repetitive structures, Kekeh-Dika offers a fresh methodological approach to analyzing the poetics of the everyday. Readers interested in how personal narratives intersect with global histories will find this book a valuable resource for understanding the aesthetic innovations of contemporary Caribbean women's writing.