Memoir and Memory-Traces

Abstract

This chapter focuses on two Caribbean writers who, in keeping with a number of their colleagues, present archival and historical material through their own lived experiences and vice versa. Dionne Brand’s memoir recounts her many travels and the ways in which, wherever she is in the world, she sees The Door of No Return as her primary point of reference; in so doing, she draws on an extensive body of literary, cultural, and archival materials alongside her memories of life in Trinidad, Canada, and the many countries to which she has traveled. Patrick Chamoiseau’s history of the penal colony of French Guiana is one that he tells through his deeply affective memories of wandering through its ruins. Both case studies demonstrate keen uses of personal memory and experience as essential sources of knowledge.