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What Is “Worse Besides”? An Ecocritical Reading of Madness in Caribbean Literature

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Abstract

Madness has historically functioned as a powerful trope in postcolonial fiction, but as an aspect of characterization, it also has the potential to lead to unidimensional characters. This is a problem in a field like postcolonial studies in which identifying with characters is typically how Western readers engage the perspective of the “other.” Carine M. Mardorossian argues that one of the ways in which the issue of madness’ potential unidimensionality has been negotiated in Caribbean literature is through characters’ association with a multilayered environment and landscape. Specifically, this ecocritical reading highlights the role landscape plays in constructing a complex psychology for the characters in Jean Rhys’s Wide Sargasso Sea (1966) and Shani Mootoo’s Cereus Blooms at Night (1996).

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNew Caribbean Studies
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan
Pages103-115
Number of pages13
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018

Publication series

NameNew Caribbean Studies
ISSN (Print)2691-3011
ISSN (Electronic)2634-5196

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