Quête des origines et histoire collective dans Chronique des sept misères de Patrick Chamoiseau

Published in 1986, this chronicle retraces the history of the universe of djobeurs by focusing on one of them. His story, and those of his ancestors and their friends, serves as pretext for retracing the history of the Antilles, the quest for origins, the quest for a past, and the search for elements which allow for the construction of a personal and collective identity. The zombie-slave Afoukal’s hunt for gold becomes a hunt for origins and the traces left by ancestors. Memory is what emerges as the real treasure.