Architextual authenticity : constructing literature and literary identity in the French Caribbean

Reviews'In Architextual Authenticity, Jason Herbeck grapples with two keywords central to understandings of Caribbean literature in French, namely 'identity' and 'authenticity'. Focused on a close reading of five core texts from Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti, the study explores the ways in which - in both past and present - issues of Antillean identity have been understood and, most importantly, constructed in the textures of literary creation. Herbeck proposes architextual and architectural readings of the works he has selected, and foregrounds not only the construction of spatiality in these but also their recurrent focus on the generative act of writing. LUP's Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures series already contains some of the most searching criticism on Caribbean writing in French published in recent years. I am excited that Architextual Authenticity constitutes a genuinely original and significant addition to this important list.'Charles Forsdick, James Barrow Professor of French, University of Liverpool 'The approach of rethinking authenticity in relation to the built environment is an innovative one, and the book puts to good use human geography approaches to place as actively constructed in and through human relationships. Some of the close reading of texts in relation to buildings and structure is enlightening, and there is an interesting attempt to understand texts in terms of a wider architecture of both society and intertextuality. The book comes together into an absorbing set of arguments. The close reading of intertextualities in the range of texts was fascinating, and it was very interesting to have this discussion placed in the specific context of Haiti for example, and of the very material dynamics of the relationships between architecture and authenticity in recent events: this gave a pleasingly concrete push to the discussions of socio-political structures, and grounded the succeeding discussion in a genuinely innovative way. I found the book overall a very enjoyable read.' Patricia Noxolo, Caribbean Studies 'Jason Herbeck's impressive monograph broadens the field of literary landscape studies through his focus on manmade structures ... His rigorous analyses of human landscapes in works by Edouard Glissant, Maryse Conde, Daniel Maximin, and Yanick Lahens serve to complement prior scholarship as well as provide new critical perspectives relevant to postcolonial studies across the board ... this is an excellent book whose impact promises to be far reaching.' Allison Connolly, H-France Review 'That Architextual Authenticity's concluding chapters take up narratives about Haiti after the 2010 earthquake underscores the important contribution that this book makes to studies in Caribbean literature and to broader conversations about representation, identity, and the construction of narratives of origin and becoming in the Caribbean.' Annette K. Joseph-Gabriel, The Journal of Haitian Studies 'An original, insightful contribution to a crowded field of work on French Caribbean literary identity.'Robyn Cope, FrenchStudies 'ArchitextualAuthenticity is a commanding work on French Caribbean criticism. Herbeck'sscholarship is impressive and his close readings, which focus on demonstratingthe "architexture" of French Caribbean texts as expression of an authentic Caribbeanliterary identity, are persuasive.'Marie-AgnesSourieau, French Review Read more...