SOURCE: "A Return to Africa with a Carpentier Tale," in Modern Language Notes, Vol. 97, No. 2, March, 1982, pp. 401-10.

In the following essay, Piedra explores the anti-colonialist discourse in "Tale of Moons," drawing inferences that explain the perseverance of African cultural elements in contemporary Caribbean narratives.

Caribbean portrayals of African traditions often translate on paper as colonialist acts. Even writers reclaiming Africa as their cultural backbone express their claims in Western types of discourse. The fact is that, in deed or on paper, explorers are intruders. The development of native traditions in Africa is interrupted by the act of discovery and repressed by the act of recording. No modern attempt can undo the original takeover.

Caribbean texts exploring Africa shoulder responsibilities similar to those of chronicles of discovery—to relate two cultures within a frame of authority which inscribes the material discovered and, at the same time, justifies the...