Małe jest wielkie, czyli karaibski model dla świata

Abstract

SMALL IS BIG, OR THE CARIBBEAN MODEL FOR THE WORLD

The discussion of Patrick Chamoiseau’s novel Texaco is used by the author as a presentation of the Caribbean model. On the example of Texaco, one of the districts of the capital of Martinique, a panorama of the social history of the descendants of slaves up to the present situation is shown. It is a specific family saga, an anthem in honor of resistance and the struggle for survival through the solidarity of the inhabitants of the favela. At the same time, the Martiniquan author’s novel is an interesting narrative experiment, recreating the tradition of an oral story, combined with a diary, reporter’s notes and elements of magical realism. The complexity of the presented world is expressed by the complexity of narrative structures. Despite the inevitable images of the tragic fate of the inhabitants, their history, the tone of hope for the emergence of a new social order, the Caribbean order, which can be used as a model for the world by building mutual compromise on relations, prevails.