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" Making sense of madness: A study of the theme of madness in selected novels by Mariama Bâ, Ken Bugul, and Myriam Warner -Vieyra "
Leah Tolbert Lyons
T. D. Sharpley-Whiting
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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52508
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TL22462
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3293877
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| Main Entry
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Leah Tolbert Lyons
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| Title & Author
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Making sense of madness: A study of the theme of madness in selected novels by Mariama Bâ, Ken Bugul, and Myriam Warner -Vieyra\ Leah Tolbert Lyons
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| College
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Vanderbilt University
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| Date
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2007
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2007
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167
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| Abstract
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This study addresses factors that contribute to women's madness in African and Caribbean literature as depicted in four novels by Mariana Bâ, Ken Bugul, and Myriam Warner-Vieyra. In these texts written by women, the loss or absence of family love in childhood and adolescence, the lack of love in a romantic context, often associated with polygamy, and cultural alienation are depicted as central causes of madness suffered by female protagonists. In analyzing madness and its sources in women's writing from Francophone Africa and the Caribbean, and more specifically, Senegal and Guadeloupe, the theoretical grounding of this study borrows heavily, though not exclusively, from transnational black feminist theory and criticism as well as Antillean liberation theorist Frantz Fanon's discussion of alienation, assimilation, identity, and colonialism. This study further addresses various solutions to the problem of madness presented in the novels. In some texts, the madwoman may be viewed as a seer, revealing and decrying the patriarchal structures that hinder female agency. Hence, madness is perceived not as a problem, but as a solution to a broader social problem. In several of the novels examined, writing is depicted as a therapeutic enterprise that allows women to survive their desperate situations. Still other novels indicate that the solidarity of women is essential to the ability to overcome madness. Through the examination of factors contributing to women's madness and potential solutions found within the novels, this study reveals madness as a trope for uncovering the forces at work that silence women. By exposing these forces of oppression, the novelists examined here engage in a literary struggle for literal liberation.
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Social sciences; Language, literature and linguistics; Africa; Ba, Mariama; Bugul, Ken; Caribbean; Guadeloupe; Literature; Madness; Novels; Senegal; Warner-Vieyra, Myriam; African literature; Caribbean literature; Womens studies; 0453:Womens studies; 0298:Literature; 0316:African literature; 0360:Caribbean literature
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T. D. Sharpley-Whiting
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Vanderbilt University
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