METAPHORS OF THE PAST IN NATHACHA APPANAH’S ‘LES ROCHERS DE POUDRE D’OR’ (2003)

Abstract

This paper aims at discussing the main features of ‘Les rochers de Poudre D’or’, a French novel by a Mauritian- French novelist, Nathacha Appanah, with the scope of uncovering the various common metaphors associated with the indentured labourers’ experience in Mauritius. Dwindling between facts and imagination, this novel brings the metaphors of the Indentured labourers’ past in a narration that resembles a diary entry format. Engaging in associating Indentured labourers’ stories found in Mauritian history with the author’s imaginative flair of writing stories around indentured-ship, Appanah’s novel delineates metaphors of land and sea as originated from the past to a compelling subset of the Mauritian indentured narrative. Mixing historical facts with imagined narratives of Indentured labourers, Appanah engages with metaphorical representations in her novel to channel the cultural experiences of the Indentured labourers with the aesthetic quality of her prose. Hence, ‘Les rochers de Poudre D’or’ constitute the parcours of the Indentured labourers from India to the ship Atlas to Mauritius, imaginatively constructing imagined lives of Indentured labourers from metaphors confined in the Mauritian history of Indentureship. Proceeding as such allows a broader engagement with investigating the aesthetic cultural experience of the imagined lives of Indentured labourers with a view to appreciate myriad human experiences in the novel.