La Dissidence in Gisèle Pineau's œuvre

Gisèle Pineau is one of Guadeloupe's most versatile contemporary women authors. Writing in an array of genres - (auto)biographies, short stories, and novels - she narrates the story of the Dissidents [Dissidents], the young black Antilleans who left the islands in dangerous circumstances to fight for de Gaulle's troops from 1940 to 1943. Remarkably, this aspect remains uncommented on in the extensive scholarship on her œuvre. This article explores Pineau's literary representation of the Dissidence in 'Paroles de terre en larmes' ['Words from the Weeping Earth'] (1988), La Grande Drive des esprits (1993) [The Drifting of Spirits (1999)], L'Exil selon Julia (1996) [Exile according to Julia (2003)], and Mes quatre femmes ['My Four Women'] (2007). The article argues that Pineau's particularly gendered narratives have been crucial in calling for oficial commemorations of the sacrifices made by Antillean women who fought in the Second World War and those who were left behind.