Description:
A dugout canoe comes ashore on the island of Saint-Barthélemy in the Antilles; in it are a black man, Arsène, and a sleeping white child, Sarah. Seeking refuge, they are taken in by a good man, but the overseer of his plantation threatens both Arsène and Sarah with the loss of their freedom.
Deborah Jenson and Doris Kadish introduce Sarah, an 1821 novella by Desbordes-Valmore, explaining its autobiographical background, political context (the revolt of blacks against Napoléon's soldiers), and literary genre (sentimentalism). The novella was a precursor to anticolonial and antislavery texts by Claire de Duras, Victor Hugo, George Sand, and Alphonse de Lamartine.
Brief description:
Deborah Jenson is professor of French and Romance Studies at Duke University. She is also director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Her specialties include French studies and Caribbean studies.
Review Quotes:
"This edition of Sarah promises not only to expand the place of women's writing in the colonial archive but also to help bridge the gap between nineteenth- and twentieth-century francophone studies of slavery while promoting the integration of French and francophone studies across the curriculum." --Adrianna M. Paliyenko, editor of Engendering Race: Romantic-Era Women and French Colonial Memory