Poetics of Relation
By (Author) douard Glissant
Translated by Betsy Wing
Penguin Books Ltd
Penguin Classics
15th July 2025
17th April 2025
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Modern and contemporary poetry (c 1900 onwards)
Decolonisation and postcolonial studies
Philosophy of language
972.982
Paperback
256
Width 130mm, Height 198mm, Spine 14mm
192g
douard Glissant's most celebrated, scintillating philosophical work - which sets out a new poetic vision for the world 'We cry our cry of poetry. Our boats are open, and we sail them for everyone.' In Poetics of Relation, his most celebrated philosophical work, douard Glissant turns the Caribbean reality of his life into a complex, energetic vision of a world in transformation. We come to see that relation in all its senses - telling, listening, connecting, and the parallel consciousness of self and surroundings - is the key to revolutionising mentalities and reshaping societies. We are not rooted, but ever-changing; we have a right to opacity and to difference, wherever we are. Told in scintillating prose, this unique exploration of language, slavery, and poetic freedom narrates an Antillean identity, but also that of the whole world.
douard Glissant (1928-2011) was a poet, novelist, playwright, philosopher and literary critic, and was a leading voice in postcolonial theory and Caribbean literature. Born in Martinique, he studied at the Lycee Schlcher and the Sorbonne in Paris. He was the Distinguished Professor of French at City University of New York, Graduate Center, and was the recipient of the Prix Renaudot and the Prix Charles Veillon. His works include Poetics of Relation, Caribbean Discourse, Faulkner Mississippi, and The Ripening.