In these essays, three of which have not previously been published, Celia Britton discusses a variety of texts from the point of view of their engagement with the cultural and political issues that have been prominent in Martinique and Guadeloupe from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. These texts range from the ethnographic writings of Michel Leiris to the novels of Maryse Condé, Joseph Zobel, Ernest Pépin and Edouard Glissant; Glissant's essays are also considered, as are those of René Ménil. Thus the question of cultural identity, for example, is central to Glissant's work but also, from a rather different point of view, to that of Leiris and Ménil. Other topics covered include racial difference and the politics of race, in the novels of Condé and Pépin; gender (Condé and Pépin); the impact of globalization and, conversely, the specificity of place (Glissant and Pépin); the legacy of slavery (Condé); and political action (Ménil, Glissant, Condé).

Celia Britton is Emeritus Professor of French and Francophone Literature at University College and a Fellow of the British Academy. Earlier in her career she worked on the Nouveau Roman and French cinema. For the past thirty years she has published widely on French Caribbean literature, thought and culture.