Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Social Sciences, Humanities and Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Amplifying the Narrative Voice. Rhetorical Strategies Within the Polynesian Novel Lettre À Poutaveri
Matteo Michele Catania
ABSTRACT:
Lettre à Poutaveri is a Polynesian novel published in 1995 in French by Louise Peltzer and presented as self-translated from Tahitian. Written during the independentism epoch and the officialization of Tahitian language, this novel offers a poignant depiction of the historical events characterising French Polynesia between the 18th and the 19th centuries. Nonetheless, our research takes into account two specific stylistic devices, which are emblematic for the whole novel (climax and enumeration), in order to underline this fundamental feature of the author’s style. Considering the nature of the novel and our goal, we will follow two superposed methodologies: the Colonial and Postcolonial criticism and the stylistic approach. In other words, our study focuses on a Postcolonial novel, which describes how autochthones lived during the Colonial period, but considering two rhetorical devices, which characterises the entire work. More specifically, we will select some salient examples, in order to distinguish ordinary climaxes and enumerations, but also a fusion of the two figures and special types of climaxes covering several pages of the novel. Thanks to these stylistic devices, this work succeeds in engaging the reader, who can immerse themselves within the story and identify with the characters. The analysis of Lettre à Poutaveri aims to deepen our understanding of Peltzer’s literary style and its contribution to Postcolonial literature.
keywords: colonial and post-colonial literatures, francophonie, figures of speech, climax, enumeration