Raphaël Confiant’s new book La Savane, Papa de Gaulle et la Négresse en déveine was published in February 2025 by Caraïbéditions. The publisher describes, “In this book, the famous Place de la Savane in Fort-de-France, which holds the living memory of Martinique, is the main protagonist of the story. Aided by several other emblematic figures of the island, it speaks to us and brings to life the main historical events that have taken place there over the centuries…”
Description: In the middle of Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique, lies a square called “La Savane,” which is its beating heart. A former mangrove swamp from the time of the island’s first inhabitants, the Kalinagos, filled in over time by the French conquerors before becoming a true public park, it has been the rallying point for many important events. The landing of King Béhanzin of Dahomey, exiled in Martinique at the end of the 19th century; the arrival of the Virgin of the Great Return in 1948, supposedly bringing the population back to the path of Christian faith; the flamboyant speech by General de Gaulle in the early 1960s, proclaiming the Frenchness [la francité] of the island; the bloody riots of December 1959; demonstrations against chlordecone, a carcinogenic pesticide used in banana plantations in 2011; but also a gathering place for carnival festivities. For a long time, it was also a way of mapping the colonial adventure with its statues of Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon I, and Belain d’Esnambuc, the “discoverer” of the island, now unbolted, as well as the different social and ethnic classes of Martinique, each with its own granite bench (the mulatto bench, the Syrian bench, the common people’s bench, etc.).
In this book, it is she, La Savane, who speaks, she who holds the living memory of the island. She is in some ways the main character, who, refusing the chronological order of humans, brings the different events to life as she pleases, helped in this by several emblematic characters: Monsieur Nestor, a communist almost a hundred years old; Dame Améliya, a beautiful “Négresse” fighting against bad luck; Fils-du-Diable-en-Personne and Bec-en-or, “majors” (tough guys) of their respective neighborhoods; Frédéric Saint-Honoré, a somewhat arrogant mulatto high school student; as well as a multitude of characters who bear witness to the “diversity” of the Creole world. La Savane speaks, let’s listen to her!
Description translated by Ivette Romero. For the original (in French), see https://www.fnac.com/a21306380/La-Savane-Papa-De-Gaulle-Et-La-Negresse-En-Deveine-Tome-1-La-savane-Papa-De-Gaulle-et-la-negresse-en-deveine-Raphael-Confiant
For more information, see https://www.caraibeditions.fr/romans-en-francais/765-la-savane-papa-de-gaulle-et-la-negresse-en-deveine.html and https://www.fnac.com/a21306380/La-Savane-Papa-De-Gaulle-Et-La-Negresse-En-Deveine-Tome-1-La-savane-Papa-De-Gaulle-et-la-negresse-en-deveine-Raphael-Confiant