"I Write in Maryse Condé": Remembering the Grande Dame of Caribbean Literature (1934–2024)
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Show Notes
In this episode of pplpod, we honor the life and legacy of Maryse Condé, the renowned French Guadeloupean novelist, critic, and playwright who passed away in April 2024 at the age of 90. Born in Pointe-à-Pitre as the youngest of eight children, Condé’s journey took her from the Caribbean to Paris, and eventually to West Africa, where she experienced a politically turbulent but formative period rubbing shoulders with figures like Malcolm X and Che Guevara.
We explore her prolific literary career, which began in earnest near age 40 with Hérémakhonon and reached international prominence with her historical epic, Ségou. We discuss her unique voice—one that rejected literary labels like Négritude and Créolité in favor of a style she described simply as writing "in Maryse Condé".
Join us as we cover:
• Her exploration of the African diaspora, colonialism, and gender in major works like I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem and her reworking of Wuthering Heights, titled Windward Heights.
• Her distinguished academic career at institutions like Columbia University and the Sorbonne.
• The global recognition she received, including the New Academy Prize in Literature (the "alternative Nobel") in 2018.
• Her final years, during which she dictated her Booker Prize-shortlisted novel, The Gospel According to the New World, to her husband and translator, Richard Philcox, due to a degenerative neurological disorder.
Tune in to celebrate a "grand storyteller" whose work belongs to world literature.