ABSTRACT
This chapter explores a number of negative readings of globalization as 'homogenization' and 'the effacement of difference', and considers its implications for Caribbean societies which lack political and economic power. Maryse Conde's concern with globalization suggests parallels with the work of Edouard Glissant. These parallels are evident at the level of the generic choices of both authors: the novel-essay pair of Desirada and 'O Brave New World' is matched by Glissant's Tout-Monde and Twite du Tout-Monde published in 1993 and 1997 respectively. The chapter also explores the extent to which Desirada offers new possibilities for re-imagining the terms of the questions that recur in Conde's theoretical and literary work concerning the relationship between an evolving Francophone Caribbean identity and conceptions of politics and literature, family and home. In keeping with the Lacanian model of subjectivity, the family in Desirada is the context for the primary lack that shapes the protagonist's quest for identity.
