SHAPING A SYMBOL


this reason he himself goes out of his way to provide in the text an
answer to the question "Why?"
 Schwarz-Bart's representative choices, apparently, were largely
determined by Guadeloupean oral traditions. As he explicitly states
immediately following his first description of Solitude's zombie-ism:
Selon une tradition orale, encore vivace a la C6te-sous-le-Vent, du c6te
des pitons de Deshaies, c'est vers l'age onze ans que la petite fille de
Bayangumay [Solitude] tourna en zombi-cornes" "According to an oral
tradition, still living on the Cote-sous-le-Vent, not far from the peaks of
Deshaies, Bayangumay's little girl was about eleven when she turned
into a zombie" (74, 88). Furthermore, as if to emphasize that this is a
local view and not merely his own interpretation, Schwarz-Bart goes
on to include an extended description of the Guadeloupean beliefs
regarding zombie-ism, saying: "En ce temps-la, disent les vieux contours
crdoles, la malediction etait sur le dos du negre et le talonnait sans arrit;
on se couchait avec tout son esprit pour se riveiller chien, crapaud de
mares ou zombi ..." "At that time, say the old Creole storytellers, the
black people were pursued by an evil spirit; a man would go to bed in
his right mind and when he woke up he would be a dog, a toad, or a
zombie ..." In this passage Schwarz-Bart further attributes the idea of
possession by animals to venerable local storytellers. And returning
after several lines to the zombie theme, Schwarz-Bart concludes: "Les
zombi-cornes talentt tout simplement des personnel que leur ame avait
abandonnees; ils demeuraient vivants, mais l'dme n'y etait plus."
"Zombies were simply humans whose souls had deserted them; they
were still alive, but the soul was gone" (74, 89). These ideas, apparently,
were his inspiration. And having taken the legend of Solitude's zombie-
ism as a starting point, Schwarz-Bart actually does a great deal to add
positive depth and complexity to the psyche of Solitude.
 In conclusion, Schwarz-Bart makes a point of repeatedly emphasizing
that he is indeed merely a teller, not the originator, of the story of
Solitude. For example, in addition to his fairly lengthy qualifying
remarks following Solitude's first change, he also interjects a very brief
but important qualifier at a later key moment. As Solitude supposedly
unwittingly first takes command of her little band ("Sans le vouloir,
sans mime le savoir" "Without meaning to, without even knowing what
she was doing"), Schwarz-Bart interjects the qualifier "dit-on, ""or so it
is said," effectually throwing his own opinion of this and other related
plot details into question (110, 138).
 Certainly, of course, Schwarz-Bart could have rewritten the
traditional story, as Zimra suggests that his wife and co-writer, Simone,