Elle Tait Sans Malice

The full French text of Lain novel is accompanied by French-English vocabulary. Notes and a detailed introduction in English put the work in its social and historical context.

[This book is written in French.] Le mouvement du récit, la justesse des personnages et des dialogues, l'émotion des vies perdues, la manière cruelle dont l'homme de quarante ans se voit exclu des fêtes de la jeunesse fait du roman, l'une des plus perspicaces chroniques de la sensibilité contemporaine. The movement of the story, the accuracy of the characters and the dialogue, the emotion of lost lives, the cruel manner in which a forty-year-old man finds himself excluded from the celebrations of youth make this novel one of the most penetrating chronicles of modern sensitivity.

Great-granddaughter of Minerve, first woman of the Guadeloupean branch of the Lougandor family to be freed from slavery in 1848, the elderly Telumée tells the story of her own difficult life and that of her ancestors. It is a poor black woman's tale of heroic survival, set in the early 20th century, harsh agrarian environment of a Caribbean island. Through the richly imaged narration of a constantly evolving, cultural significant and always entertaining saga, the author leads the reaer into her native West Indian realm of legends, magic, folkloric wisdom and traditional reverence for the elderly and the past. Her protagonist, Telumée, embodies the innate strength and nobility of women in general and of black Caribbean women in particular. Published in 1972, this book received Elle magazine's literary prize. This edition reflects the editor's personal acquaintance with the author, and her country. It provides a synthesis of the latest critical studies, and a thorough interpretation of Creole terms, symbolic imagery and a unique cultural background.