The Author As Cannibal

After French colonial rule ended, Francophone authors began rewriting narratives from the colonial literary canon. Felisa Vergara Reynolds presents these textual revisions as figurative acts of cannibalism and examines how these literary cannibalizations critique colonialism and its legacy in each author’s homeland.

In the first decades after the end of French rule, Francophone authors engaged in an exercise of rewriting narratives from the colonial literary canon. In The Author as Cannibal, Felisa Vergara Reynolds presents these textual revisions as figurative acts of cannibalism and examines how these literary cannibalizations critique colonialism and its legacy in each author’s homeland. Reynolds focuses on four representative texts: Une tempête (1969) by Aimé Césaire, Le temps de Tamango (1981) by Boubacar Boris Diop, L’amour, la fantasia (1985) by Assia Djebar, and La migration des coeurs (1995) by Maryse Condé. Though written independently in Africa and the Caribbean, these texts all combine critical adaptation with creative destruction in an attempt to eradicate the social, political, cultural, and linguistic remnants of colonization long after independence. The Author as Cannibal situates these works within Francophone studies, showing that the extent of their postcolonial critique is better understood when they are considered collectively. Crucial to the book are two interviews with Maryse Condé, which provide great insight on literary cannibalism. By foregrounding thematic concerns and writing strategies in these texts, Reynolds shows how these rewritings are an underappreciated collective form of protest and resistance for Francophone authors.

"They raped me and ate my friend alive." Thus starts this work of erotic horror fiction filled with 'sacrilege, blasphemy, and crime' -- written in a style that is part H P Lovecraft, part Marquis de Sade, and part Octave Mirbeau -- "The Cannibal Within" is literally 'wet with sin, slippery with blood, and slimy with fornication.' The novel's central character is part Lara Croft part Sarah Connor. She/We has a choice: the evil may be patiently borne or savagely resisted. We may think we are special -- holy, honoured, valued -- God's chosen primates -- but that is a fraud. The dupes of superhuman forces, we are misfits and abominations. We have no higher purpose -- no saviour god died for our sins--we exist, only because our masters are infatuated with our meat.

The Cannibal Within offers an evolutionary account of the propensity of human beings, in extreme circumstances to eat other human beings, despite the strong Western taboo against such practices. What sets this volume apart from the large body of literature on cannibalism, both popular and anthropological, is the underlying premise: cannibalism as an alternative to starvation is tacitly condoned by the same biological morality that would condemn cannibalism of other sorts in non-threatening situations. Deep as the taboos may be, the survival instinct runs even deeper. The title of the book reflects the author's belief that cannibalism is not a pathology that erupts in psychotic individuals, but is a universal adaptive strategy that is evolutionarily sound. The cannibal is within all of us, and cannibals are within all cultures, should the circumstances demand cannibalism's appearance and usage. Petrinovich's work is rich in historical detail, and rises to a level of theoretical sophistication in addressing a subject too often dealt with in sensationalist terms. The major instances in which survival cannibalism has occurred convinced the author that there is a consistent pattern and a uniform regularity of order in which different kinds of individuals are consumed. In considering who eats whom, when, and under what circumstances, this regularity appears, and it is consistent with what would be expected on the basis of evolutionary or Darwinian theory. In short, he concludes that starvation cannibalism is not a manifestation of the chaotic, psychotic behavior of individuals who are driven to madness, but reveals underlying characteristics of evolved human beings. Lewis Petrinovich is professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology of the University of California, Riverside and is currently a resident of Berkeley, California.

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Literature - Asia, grade: 1.0, University of Heidelberg (Institut für Sinologie), course: PS Einführung in die Chinesische Literatur, language: English, abstract: In this essay the focus will be on the motif of cannibalism in “A Madman’s Diary” (Kuangren riji), which is the central image of this short-story. I will examine it in the socio-political context the story was written in and analyse possible readings. Furthermore since the meaning of the image of cannibalism in this text has been thoroughly discussed over the last century, I want to go on briefly exploring the choice of this motif itself. Why has Lu Xun chosen this very image of cannibalism and what could we learn from this about the author’s view of (traditional) Chinese society? Lu Xun’s story has already been interpreted many times and in different ways. However it is and remains a significant and complex literary piece that should be read and interpreted again and again. First of all because of its importance for the history of modern Chinese literature, generally being considered to be the first modern Chinese short-story (Hsia 33) and even more to mark the beginning of modern Chinese literature itself (Chou 1042). Despite this evident contribution to the genre of modern Chinese fiction, Lu Xun’s story can also be viewed as a “prototypical text of social protest and criticism in modern Chinese literature” (Tang).

When a pair of collaborating authors take their families on vacation to Barbados, their plans turn sour when they find themselves in the midst of quasi-primitive cannibals. As tensions rise and secrets are revealed, survival isn't the only challenge they face. "...is a frenetic story of hope, butchery, survival and the horrors of man - written by one of the finest minds working in indie horror today." Ross Jeffery, Bram Stoker-nominated author of Tome, Juniper, and Only the Stains Remain

Taken from Juliette, the Marquis de Sade's epic of vice, the episode of MINSKI THE CANNIBAL is one of the most horrific and depraved in all of the author's canon. Whilst venturing in remote mountains, Juliette and her companions are accosted by Minski, a giant who devours human flesh, and taken to his castle. There they witness obscene rites of sexual carnage, played out in a subterranean slaughterhouse for human cattle. This special ebook edition of MINSKI THE CANNIBAL also includes an illuminating essay by Sade scholar Maurice Heine - newly translated into English for the first time - on Sade as progenitor of the gothic novel.

As Tom Tin nears Australia, where he’s to serve a lengthy sentence for a murder he didn’t commit, he and his fellow convict, Midgely, plot their escape. No matter that the ship carrying them and the other juvenile criminals is captained by Tom’s father. Tom knows his father can’t help him clear his name and regain his freedom–not as long as Mr. Goodfellow, a man who wants the ruin of the Tin family, wields power back in London. So Tom and Midgely decide to go overboard! So do other boys who seize their chance at liberty–boys who aren’t so innocent, and who have it in for Tom. To make things worse, the islands in the Pacific look inviting, but Tom remembers his father’s warnings: headhunters and cannibals lurk there! The boys go anyway. And as conflict among them mounts, as they encounter the very dangers Captain Tin spoke of, Tom must fight to keep himself and Midgely alive.