SOURCE: "Narrative and Discursive Strategies in Maryse Condé's Traversée de la mangrove," in Callaloo, Vol. 15, No. 1, Winter, 1992, pp. 147-55.

In the essay below, Crosta discusses Condé's narrative techniques in Traversée de la mangrove, stating that although there is no single authoritative voice in the work, "one notices in the use of varied points of view, the voice of an implicit author who prudently guides the reader to reflect upon the notion of identity as a cultural construct."

Maryse Condé's latest novel, entitled Traversée de la mangrove, explores the question of gender and formal structures in light of the author's attempt to define a narrative center that would effectively subvert not only patriarchal discourse but also the colonial discourse within which it is inscribed. It is relevant to note that there is no single authoritative voice in Traversée de la mangrove and...