Pour une littrature-monde et Eloge de la crolit: deux manifestes, deux visions de la littrature incompatibles, concurrentes, conscutives?

Pour une littrature-monde (2007) co-edited by Le Bris and Rouaud and In Praise of Creolness (1989 1993) by Bernab, Confiant and Chamoiseau are two manifestos published twenty years apart, which demonstrate a new vision of Francophone literature: one that is written in French but which seeks to separate itself from French supremacy and tutelage. However, the way in which the littrature-monde stretches beyond cultural boundaries and linguistic frontiers differs significantly from the kind of interior regard advocated by the Creolit mouvement which seeks to promote a regionally specific identity and a literature of resistance based on Creole language and culture. By considering the French establishment as their primary interlocutor, the Creolit movement stands in sharp contrast from the littrature-monde which considers France as only one part of a larger multicultural and multilingual ensemble. This article aims at comparing the two manifestos, by emphasizing the vision of the world proposed by their authors and their relationship to the French language and nation.