Shaping a Symbol: Schwarz-Bart's Visions
 and Revisions of His Guadeloupian
 Heroine in La mulatresse Solitude

 Aaron C. Eastley



 Vire libre on iiouirir. "
 Solitude, Fenines des Antilles: Traces et Voix

 "Sans le voloilo sans inme le ,sa'voir dit-on,
 [Solitude] conduisit le group deseinparie . "
 -Andre Schwarz-Bart, La inulcitresse Solitude
 Much has been made by critics of Andre Schwarz-Bart's singular
 portrayal of his historical heroine in La mulatresse Solitude
 (1972), translated from the French by Ralph Manheim as A
Woman Named Solitude (1973,2001).' Solitude, a mulatta slave conceived
in rape during the Middle Passage, lived to become one of the most
famous maroons in Guadeloupean history. As rendered by Schwarz-
Bart, however, Solitude becomes a marginally sane 'zombi-corne,' whose


 In this essay I have followed quotations from the original novel with English
translations from Manheim's text. I have also provided translations of my own for
quotations from critical sources written in French. All quotations in French are
italicized, with English translations immediately following in non-italicized print.
Accordingly, in-text parenthetical references list page numbers referring to the
original French language texts first, and English translations second.