Alienation in Maryse Condé’s Le Cœur à Rire et à Pleurer

Postcolonialism is a theoretical framework that problematizes the legacy of colonialism through the lenses of sociology, psychology, and literature. Postcolonial literature, exploring the enduring impact of colonialism on literary works addresses themes such as identity, exile, and alienation. Frantz Fanon was one of the most prominent thinkers of the 20th century with his anti-colonial works, which dealt with the problems created by colonialism on both an individual and a cultural level. Fanon, exploring the alienation of colonized peoples from their own origins, asserts that true freedom can be attained when individuals liberate themselves from this imposed sense of otherness. Maryse Condé, one of the leading figures of French postcolonial literature, delves into the search for identity among those who have endured the experiences of slavery, colonialism, and exile. The aim of this study is to analyze the concept of alienation in Maryse Condé's autobiographical storybook, Le Cœur à Rire et à Pleurer, within the framework of Frantz Fanon's postcolonial theory.