SOURCE: "The Semiotics of Exile in Maryse Condé's Fictional Works," in Callaloo, Vol. 14, No. 2, Spring, 1991, pp. 381-88.

In the essay below, Smith discusses the themes of exile and alienation in Condé's fiction.

Among the Francophone Caribbean writers, Guade-loupean-born Maryse Condé has produced a body of works which has won wide recognition for its appeal, its diversity, and its depth. A multifaceted talent, this playwright, essayist, critic, and novelist draws from a wide source of inspiration. The history of the African kingdom of Ségou provides the framework as well as some of the characters and episodes in both Ségou: les murailles de terre and Ségou: la terre en miettes. Hérémakhonon focuses on the psychological problem of alienation, while the surge of religious fanaticism associated with the which hunt in seventeenth-century Salem constitutes a salient aspect of yet another novel, Moi, Tituba, sorci...