Relational Character Constellations: Maryse Condé's Traversée de la mangrove and Maylis de Kerangal's Réparer les vivants

Abstract: This article examines the character constellations of Maryse Condé's Traversée de la mangrove (1989) and Maylis de Kerangal's Réparer les vivants (2014) as a vector for relational thought. Largely undifferentiated and non-hierarchical, both novels draw out a matrix of intersecting points in plot as viewed through the experiences and perspective of each character. This design, I argue, allows the reader to construct a cohesive, albeit incomplete, view of each story world, ultimately positing a vision for community grounded in the notion of relationality: a plethora of crossing paths intermittently all together, yet altogether elsewhere, all at once.