A8. Maryse Condé Channels Tituba, Black Witch of Salem: Historic Novel, Subversive Narrative and Literary Magic

The prolific author of plays, memoirs, essays, short stories and novels, Maryse Condé was born in Guadeloupe and lived in Europe, Africa and the United States. Having taught at various universities, including Columbia, Berkeley, the University of Virginia and the Sorbonne, she was hailed as the “grande dame de la francophonie” (The great lady of francophone literature) when she died earlier this year. Among her celebrated novels is I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, which recounts the story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials from the point of view of the West Indian slave, Tituba, who played a crucial role in the lives of the children who instigated the communal crisis. Our understanding of the cultural contradictions and literary complexities of Condé’s perspective on this notorious episode in Massachusetts history will be augmented by our reading of the novella, “Nanna-Ya,” which deals with the figure of the witch and the theme of literary appropriation in modern Jamaica.

Required Books:

Maryse Condé, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, trans. Richard Philcox, (University of Virginia: 2009).

Maryse Condé, Land of Many Colors & Nanna-Ya, (Bison Books: 1999).

Optional Books:

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (any edition).

Arthur Miller, The Crucible, Text and Criticism, Ed. Gerald Weales, (New York: Penguin, 1971). [Although members may find it helpful to read any edition of the play—or watch one of the filmed versions thereof—this text is useful because it contains helpful historical material].