Spooning old memories: portraits of grandparents in francophone Caribbean works

Abstract

This article aims to examine representations of old age from the imaginary of grandparents in theoretical-literary texts written by their grandchildren after the death of their parents. With the marked aging of diverse populations, it is urgent to revisit the paradigm of this phase of life as a stage of decline, conducive to disease, weakness and the inevitable death. Based on the concept of “refuge value” proposed by the Tunisian literary critic Albert Memmi and in order to 'collect memories from old people', as Brazilian writer and psychologist Éclea Bosi did, our analyzes focus on family relationships and the importance of ancestry within society in works in the French-speaking Caribbean, more precisely on the island of Martinique and the archipelago of Guadalupe. In this sense, we particularly welcome texts by Martinicans Patrick Chamoiseau, Raphaël Confiant, Fabienne Kanor and Guadeloupe Simone Schwarz-Bart, Maryse Condé and Dominique Lancastre in which the relationship between old age and literary representation is on the scene and the notions of “oralitura” (CHAMOISEAU, 2002), “identity search” (CHAMOISEAU, 2016) “presentification” (FOUCAULT, 1992), “fabulation” (HUSTON, 2008) and death as “absence” (CHAMOISEAU, 2016).. Finally, ancestry and its importance are glimpsed from the metaphor of the tree (HAMPÂTÉ BÂ), the “humus” (KANOR, 2006) and the “sap” (BOSI, 2003) to show a social body marked by teachings, insurgencies and altruism of grandparents “too old to die” (MARIANO, 2020).