Devil's Dance

by Gisèle Pineau, C. Dickson (Translation)

In a sexual frenzy, Mina Montério tries to lose both herself and the phantoms that have haunted her since she left Guadeloupe, but she cannot elude the ghost of her beloved sister Rosalia, who burned to death in a fire Mina escaped. Ultimately, in the company of a tormented man recently released from a mental hospital, Mina returns to Piment, her birthplace, to unravel the mystery of her family’s curse. Sorting through stories of quarrels and betrayals, incest and rivalry, black magic and sorcery, the two find what they the key to what tortures them. Through their quest, Gisèle Pineau explores the questions of migration, exile, and return that have distinguished her work among Francophone writers within the Creole tradition. An intensely felt and strikingly original tale, Devil’s Dance shows Pineau’s genius for mapping the lost soul in search of itself.

Genres: France, Roman, Fiction

276 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Gisèle Pineau is a French novelist, writer and former psychiatric nurse. Although born in Paris, her origins are Guadeloupean and she has written several books on the difficulties and torments of her childhood as a Black person growing up in Parisian society.

During her youth, she divided her time between France and Guadeloupe due to her father's stationing in the military.[2] Pineau struggled with her identity as a Black immigrant due to the racism and xenophobia she experienced at her all-white school in the Kremlin-Bicotre suburb.[2] Pineau took to writing in order to console the difficulties of her French upbringing and Caribbean heritage, as her works would connect the two cultures rather than separating them.[3][4]

In her writings, she uses the oral tradition of storytelling in fictional works to reclaim the narratives of Caribbean culture.[4] She also focuses on racism and the effects it can have on a young girl trying to discover her own cultural identity. Her book L'Exil Selon Julia highlights this, as she relies on the memories and experiences of her aged grandmother to help her learn about her society's traditions and her own cultural background. In the book, she also mentions that the discrimination she felt as a youngster did not only apply to French society in Paris, but also to the people of Guadeloupe, who rejected her for being too cosmopolitan upon her return to the land of her ancestors.

She for many years lived in Paris and, whilst maintaining her writing career, has also returned to being a psychiatric nurse in order to balance out her life; but she recently has moved back to Guadeloupe.

Reviews

[Sarah Brideau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un excellent livre qui vous emporte dans son univers borderline-mystique. J'ai beaucoup aimé.

[Catherine Sanon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extrait: Comment se fustigeait-il,ai-je pu vivre vingt ans auprès d'une créature chiche de caresses qui consentait a me prêter sa chair,bouche fermée et cuisses serrées, tétées raplapla et coucoune sèche? Comment ai-je pu rester aussi longtemps dans cette existence,a quemander l'amour comme un chien sa pitance?

[Marie Nagera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un plot twist surprenant

[Carine B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un excellent moment de lecture dans l’univers magico-religieux des Antilles. Une histoire de famille, de générations, de trahison.