Criticism > Contemporary Literary Criticism > Danticat, Edwidge (Vol. 136) - Edwidge Danticat with Renee H. Shea (interview date 17 January 1996)

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Edwidge Danticat with Renee H. Shea (interview date 17 January 1996)

SOURCE: “The Dangerous Job of Edwidge Danticat: An Interview,” in Callaloo, Vol. 19, No. 2, January 17, 1996, pp. 382–89.

[In the following interview, Shea and Danticat discuss various aspects of Danticat's work, including mother-daughter relationships and imagery.]

[Shea:] Mothers and daughters are a central theme in your work, certainly in Breath, Eyes, Memory and in many of the short stories. This bond seems to be the very essence of women's lives, yet it is rarely a happy one. In Breath, Eyes, Memory, Ifé has a troubled relationship with both of her daughters, Martine and Atie, as does Martine with Sophie. Only in “Caroline's Wedding” does there seem to be any peace—at least with a living mother. Are you suggesting that this most intense and defining of relationships is bound to be, at best, an uneasy one?

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. Edwidge Danticat with Margaria Fichtner (interview date 1 May 1995)
   2. Edwidge Danticat with Renee H. Shea (interview date 17 January 1996)
   3. Myriam J. A. Chancy (essay date 1997)
   4. Publishers Weekly (review date 8 June 1998)
   5. Michael Upchurch (review date 27 September 1998)
   6. Zia Jaffrey (review date 16 November 1998)
   7. Matthew Rothschild (review date December 1998)
   8. Jacqueline Brice-Finch (review date Spring 1999)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright

1. Edwidge Danticat