Using the playful, orally inspired, and partially invented language for which he is renowned, Patrick Chamoiseau recalls the brilliant, magical universe of his early childhood in Martinique. At the center of this universe is his extraordinarily vigorous mother and her creative, pragmatic ways of coping with poverty and five children. As Chamoiseau presents these first impressions of an exceptional child growing up in a rich Creole culture, he also reflects in oblique but incisive ways on colonialism. He probes the boundary between reality and imagination, between the child's awakening understanding and the adult's memory of those earlier days.
- ISBN13 9781862072435
- Publish Date 18 February 1999 (first published 1 February 1999)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 24 June 2013
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Granta Books
- Format Paperback
- Pages 128
- Language English