The Island: Martinique

by John Edgar Wideman

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Book cover for The Island

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A RICHLY LAYERED TAKE ON A POPULAR REGION: Wideman's exploration of Caribbean culture should find a broad audience. HIGH QUALITY, LOW PRICE: A winning combination of elegant design, high production value, and low price point. MULTI-MEDIA SUPPORT: Series is being supported across National Geographic media, including the magazines, the National Geographic Channel, and nationalgeographic.com. An American man of African descent and a French woman visit Martinique and discover an enormous mutual attraction that a third party - the island - both enhances and threatens. An unusual sort of menage a trois follows. The couple discovers the sensuousness and seductive beauty of the island, as they experience its vexed history of colonial violence and racism. The backdrop includes a former slave plantation, a rum factory, a cabaret featuring Zouk music, a volcanic eruption, writers and other local figures, as well as doses of history. Also appearing are the late philosopher-writer and Martinique native Frantz Fanon, artist Paul Gauguin, Thomas Jefferson, a cast of African slaves, ex-slaves, and Creoles, plus old-school colonialists as well as bekes and their descendants.
The book attempts to decipher the meaning of Creole - the mix of African and European cultures, people, history.
  • ISBN10 0792265335
  • ISBN13 9780792265337
  • Publish Date 1 February 2003
  • Publish Status Out of Stock
  • Out of Print 28 July 2011
  • Publish Country US
  • Imprint National Geographic Books
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 192
  • Language English