REVIEWS | AUTHOR BIO | SUBJECT CATEGORIES
Examining the author’s use of sound in novels to construct and negotiate identity
Sounding Off
Rhythm, Music, and Identity in West African and Caribbean Francophone Novels
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American Literatures Initiative
Julie Huntington
"Huntington’s emphasis on the interconnections of the related arts—music, poetry, fiction, oral tradition etc.—is one of the few to treat systematically, and in a sound, sophisticated theoretical and ethnographic framework, the important traits of African literary, oral and musical productions. Sounding Off will make a great contribution to the interdisciplinary study and thus provide a deeper understanding of musical and literary-artistic productions in African and diasporan communities."
—Daniel Avorgbedor, Ohio State University, Columbus
Intrigued by "texted" sonorities—the rhythms, musics, ordinary noises, and sounds of language in narratives—Julie Huntington examines the soundscapes in contemporary Francophone novels. Through an ethnomusicological perspective, Huntington argues that the range of sounds—from footsteps, heartbeats, and drumbeats—represented in West African and Caribbean works provides a context in which identities are shaped and negotiated.
Sounding Off attends to how sounds function in such as Ousmane Sembene's God's Bits of Wood (Senegal), and Patrick Chamoiseau's Solibo Magnificent (Martinique). These writers—like composers—create distinct soundscapes, constructing transpoetic and transcultural links that resonate. The voices, cadences, and sonorities in these narratives create a rich soundtrack to the characters' lives, framing them with a rhythmic polyphony that helps form social and cultural identities. Huntington’s analysis shows how these writers and others challenge the aesthetic and political conventions that privilege written texts over orality and invite readers-listeners to participate in critical dialogues—to sound off, as it were, in local and global communities.
Reviews
"Huntington finds new ways to read often-compared West African and Caribbean Francophone novels and offers fascinating insights into language and culture. Her concept of ‘instrumentaliture,’ along with her referencing of African scholars, discussion of drum language, funerals, and veillées, is original. Sounding Off will appeal to scholars of African, Caribbean, Diaspora, and comparative literature, and popular culture."
—Renée Larrier, Rutgers University
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About the Author(s)
 | Julie Huntington is an Assistant Professor of French at Marymount Manhattan College |
Subject Categories
Literature and Drama
Music and Dance
African Studies
In the series
African Soundscapes, edited by Gregory Barz.
African music has been a topic of considerable scholarly and general interest. The books in this new interdisciplinary series will highlight contemporary African music in its cultural contexts and the contributions of African expressive culture to global music traditions. The series will include works by scholars based in Africa.