Les autres pirates des Caraïbes : transtextualités transatlantiques chez Michel Séligny (1807-1867), écrivain créole de la Nouvelle-Orléans

Abstract

In pre-Civil War Louisiana, texts denouncing slavery were extremely rare, largely because of laws limiting freedom of expression on the topic. This article examines a noteworthy, if discreet, exception: the short story “Un pirate,” written in 1853 by Michel Séligny, a free man of color. Taking into account the ambiguous status of free gens de couleur, our study contextualizes and analyzes narrative strategies employed in the fictional representation of the exploits of slave-trading privateers in local history, to the effect of contesting their role in popular memory; such techniques include the appropriation, through rewriting, of a novella by French author Eugène Sue.

Keywords

• Louisiana
• slavery
• transatlantic
• pirates
• Michel Séligny
• Eugène Sue