Edwidge Danticat, Breath, Eyes, Memory

Kasia Mika (Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies)

Ed. by Maeve McCusker, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 4.1.2: Francophone Writing and Culture of Central America and the Caribbean.
Vol. editors: Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Maeve McCusker (Queen's University Belfast), David Murphy (University of Strathclyde)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1994

Places

Haiti (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Edwidge Danticat’s debut novel

Breath, Eyes, Memory

(1994) is now an established classic which continues to gain praise from scholars, critics, and readers alike. Danticat started writing the novel when she was still in high school. After finishing an article for a teen New York City newspaper about her departure from Haiti and arrival in the United States, she decided “to write a short story about a young girl who leaves Haiti to come to the United States to be reunited with her mother, who she doesn't really know. The story just grew and grew and as it grew [she] began to weave more and more fictional elements into it and added some themes that concerned [her]” (Danticat 2017, n.p.), becoming a poetic exploration of living in “

dyaspora

” (Danticat 2001, xiv)—a twin experience…

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2970 words

Citation: Mika, Kasia. "Breath, Eyes, Memory". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 April 2017 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35894, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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