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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Recent developments in Creole literatures on Mauritius and Reunion |
Author: | Armstrong, James C. |
Year: | 1980 |
Periodical: | Ba Shiru |
Volume: | 11 |
Issue: | 2 |
Pages: | 88-105 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Réunion Mauritius |
Subjects: | Pidgin French literature (form) |
Abstract: | Since roughly 1976 on both Mauritius and Reunion there has been a remarkable flourishing of literature written in the creolized French of these islands. On both these islands Creole has no official standing, is not formally used as a medium of education, not taught as a subject There has been until recently relatively little printed matter available in Creole. On neither island has the government given encouragement to Creole; on each, therefore, Creole has become a cultural and political issue On both islands parties on the left have seen in the language situation an opportunity to exbarrass the government of the day. The result is that Creole literature is often, perhaps largely, written from a radical perspective: it is a 'litterature engagee', a 'litterature de combat'. As such it is largely (but not entirely) disregarded or ignored by the established literary organs. This paper gives a review of Creole literature up to February 1981. List of works by Dev Virahsawmy, notes. |