Cajun Literature and Cajun Collective Memory

Mathilde Köstler

Published by De Gruyter 2023

Cajun Literature and Cajun Collective Memory

Mathilde Köstler

Volume 78 in the series Buchreihe der Anglia / Anglia Book Series

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110772715

Overview
Contents

About this book

How does Cajun literature, emerging in the 1980s, represent the dynamic processes of remembering in Cajun culture?

Known for its hybrid constitution and deeply ingrained oral traditions, Cajun culture provides an ideal testing ground for investigating the collective memory of a group. In particular, francophone and anglophone Cajun texts by such writers as Jean Arceneaux, Tim Gautreaux, Jeanne Castille, Zachary Richard, Ron Thibodeaux, Darrell Bourque, and Kirby Jambon reveal not only a shift from an oral to a written tradition. They also show hybrid perspectives on the Cajun collective memory. Based on recurring references to place, the texts also reflect on the (Acadian) past and reveal the innate ability of the Cajuns to adapt through repeated intertextual references. The Cajun collective memory is thus defined by a transnational outlook, a transversality cutting across various ethnic heritages to establish and legitimize a collective identity both amid the linguistic and cultural diversity in Louisiana, and in the face of American mainstream culture.

Cajun Literature and Cajun Collective Memory represents the first analysis of the mnemonic strategies Cajun writers use to explore and sustain the Cajun identity and collective memory.

Cajun writers’ mnemonic strategies used for identity formation
joint analysis of francophone and anglophone Cajun texts
1st analysis of Cajun texts
1st analysis of the lit. representation of the Acadian dispersal

Author / Editor information

Mathilde Köstler, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
1 Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2 A Short History of Cajun Culture and Cajun Literature Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	18
3 Framing Collective Memory and Literature: Some Theoretical Observations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	44
4 Memory as Awakening: Cris sur le bayou and the Emergence of Cajun Poetry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
5 Tim Gautreaux: Navigating between Memory and Forgetting Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	153
6 Jeanne Castille’s Nostalgic Vision of Cajun Culture Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	212
7 Migrating Literature: Zachary Richard’s Cajun Tales Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	262
8 Ron Thibodeaux’s Hell or High Water: How Cajuns Counter the Rita and Ike Amnesia Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	306
9 Darrell Bourque’s Poetics of Broken Memory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	354
10 Kirby Jambon’s China Baroque Poetry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	409
11 Conclusion and Outlook Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	453
12 Works Cite Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	467
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	515

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
Audience: Scholars of Literary, Cajun, Transnational American, Francophone, Acadian and Collective Memory Studies; libraries
Pages
- Front matter: 8
- Main content: 538
Keywords: Louisiana; Grand Dérangement; Acadia

eBook

Published: December 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110772715

Hardcover

Published: December 19, 2022
ISBN: 9783110772630