Leonora: The Buried Story of Guadeloupe - Paperback

by Dany Bebel-Gisler (Author)

Leonara is a first in francophone Caribbean literature: neither fiction nor biography, this book by sociologist and Creole-culture advocate Dany Bebel-Gisler has elements of both novelistic and documentary style. It has been likened to the Latin-American testimonio genre (testimony novel). The real-life Leonara- model for and subject of this book- told Bebel-Gisler that "in this book made up of my words, it is my very self that is present. You have written the story just as I have told it"

In the course of her life, Leonara has witnessed, from her perspective as the mother of a large family, the passage of Guadeloupe from colony to departement of France; from the hard-scrabble subsistence agriculture of the rural poor to the subsudized consumer economy of France's overseas departements today. Along the way she offers witty and pungent observations on language, politics, sex, and religion.

Back Jacket

Leonora is very important text that, as it follows the different stages of Leonora's development, introduces the reader to the political, social, and personal struggles of a segment of Guadeloupean society whose story is seldom told.

Author Biography

Dany Bebel-Gisler has written Cultures et pouvoir dans la Caraibe (Cultures and power in the Caribbean); Kek prinsip pou ekri kreyol (Some principles for writing Creole); and Les enfants de la Guadeloupe (Guadeloupe's children).