Here's a version of the abstract which is in English (though the article itself is in French):
The criticism has rarely studied the Caribbean sentimental novel. This article examines some of the terms of the writing of love among some writers of the Caribbean (Thérèse Herpin, Irmine Romanette, Marie Berté, Simone Schwarz-Bart, Gisèle Pineau, Marie Chauvet, Marie-Célie Agnant, Kettly Mars, etc.) in order to identify significant configurations. Indeed, while novelists incorporate several characteristics of the canonical sentimental novel, we can also detect in these texts miscegenation semiotics which link them both to the sentimental novel as a genre, to the realistic classic novel, and to the conventions of exotic literature and tales. Thus emerges in this corpus what might be called the imaginary of the fish lover, born of the encounter with traditional tales and conventions of popular literature.
So the article looks at various works of romantic fiction, which do not end happily, and suggests that perhaps this is due to the traditional tales/fairy tales which act as templates for the imaginations of authors in different parts of the world:
l’hypothèse qu’il faudra poser ici serait plutôt celle-ci, nous semble-t-il : s’il existe un tel écart entre l’imaginaire de l’amour en occident et chez les romancières de la caraïbe, cela s’explique moins par le vécu que par l’imaginaire, justement. Un écrivain ne s’inspire pas que du vécu, du réel ; il s’inspire également, et parfois avant tout, des récits de fiction déjà élaborés dans son espace culturel. Or, quels sont les premiers récits dont nous prenons connaissance, garçons et filles ; quel est le premier imaginaire des relations de couple que la société nous propose? Les contes de fées! Or, en amérique, en europe, nous grandissons avec cendrillon, la Belle au bois dormant, Blanche-neige, le conte de la Princesse courtisée par le roi des crapauds, etc. Le canevas de ces contes est essentiellement le même que celui du roman Harlequin: deux amoureux que tout sépare finissent ensemble, transformés par l’amour.
Ce n’est pas ce que l’on trouve dans les contes les plus populairesce n’est pas ce que l’on trouve dans les contes les plus populaires de la caraïbe (du moins ceux dont il existe des transcriptions dont nous avons pu prendre connaissance). (24)
However, the article concludes by providing indications of change in the Caribbean literature, with examples of novels which seem less suspicious of love.
Here's a version of the abstract which is in English (though the article itself is in French):
So the article looks at various works of romantic fiction, which do not end happily, and suggests that perhaps this is due to the traditional tales/fairy tales which act as templates for the imaginations of authors in different parts of the world:
However, the article concludes by providing indications of change in the Caribbean literature, with examples of novels which seem less suspicious of love.