A poetic of the relationship: the endless conversation between Édouard Glissant and Michel Leiris

Abstract

This article presents a cross-reading of the writings by Michel Leiris (France, 1901-1990) and Édouard Glissant (Martinique, 1928-2011) from the 1950s onwards. It was during this period that Leiris was researching in the Antilles, under UNESCO’s auspices, and that Glissant became his Ethnography student in France. Starting from an initial reading of Leiris’ inquiries on this decade, and then of Glissant’s writings, the aim of this article is to demonstrate the intertextuality between their works, which is a result, above all, of Glissant’s appropriations from the texts of his teacher. More specifically, it aims to explore how the conceptions of “créolisation” and “Relation”, by Glissant, are based in a dialogue with the ideas of “contact” and “communication”, by Leiris. Moreover, it aims to understand the uses of “carrefour”, as a representation of the Antillean societies, and the heuristic impact of this concept on their works.