« Les Échos du volcan » : Mettre en scène le passé volcanique de la Martinique dans quatre pièces d’Ina Césaire

This article shows how in four short plays the author Ina Césaire draws inspiration from an environmental disaster – the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée in Martinique – to address themes of politics, race, gender and social inequality in early twentieth-century Martinique and their continued impact on contemporary society and culture. The article focuses on plays by Martinican author Ina Césaire: La Diablesse du Morne Rouge [The She-Devil of Morne-Rouge] (2005), Les Bourgeois de couleur [The Colored Bourgeois] (2011), Les Fuyardes [The Runaway Women or The Women Runaways] (2011), Des jours ordinaires [Ordinary days] (2011). The four plays are inspired by the 1902 Mount Pelée eruption which destroyed the town of Saint-Pierre in Martinique. This article will first focus on the political, religious and racial dynamics of early twentieth-century Martinique as depicted in Césaire’s plays. It will then focus on how the plays address contemporary societal imaginaries and prejudices, looking specifically at the treatment of female characters and the depiction of gendered stereotypes.