This groundbreaking book analyzes the theme of community in seven French Caribbean novels in relation to the work of the French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy. The complex history of the islands means that community is often a central and problematic issue in their literature, underlying a range of other questions such as political agency, individual and collective subjectivity, attitudes towards the past and the future, and even the literary form itself. Celia Britton here studies a range of key books from the region, including Edouard Glissant's "Le Quatrieme Siecle, " Patrick Chamoiseau's "Texaco," Daniel Maximin's "L'Ile et une nuit, "and Vincent Placoly's "L'eau-de-mort guildive," among others.