RT Journal DB /z-wcorg/ DS http://worldcat.org ID 359903353 LA EN T1 LE MASQUE BLESSâE/THE AFFLICTED MASK A1 Oakley, Seanna Sumalee, PB Taylor & Francis YR 2007 SN 1478-8810 JF Atlantic Studies VO 4 IS 1 SP 67 OP 85 AB This paper aims to bring the Francophone Atlantic into dialogue with philosophy, critical theory, and studies of the lyric instead of continuing to cloister it within diasporic, black, ethnic, or cultural studies. In addition, the aim is to move the literature of the Francophone Atlantic beyond merely thematic discussion. The book-length poem Fleurs d'insomnie (Flowers of Insomnia) by Haitian poet Frankâetienne employs the first-person vatic speaker in ways that point to ethical relations between Haitian vodoun, Afro-Creole lyric, and European Romanticism. The vates in Fleurs d'insomnie is a structural necessity and a syntactic convention. Contrary to what is often said of the lyric “I” in deconstructionist critique, the vates is not a figure of essential or transcendental identity. Instead, Frankâetienne's appropriation of Romantic lyric discourse within Haitian vodoun syntax challenges us to reconsider how the lyric “I” is productive as a poetic device and as an ethical medium.