A History of Haitian Literature

This is the first comprehensive history of Haitian literature published in the English language.

Marlene L. Daut (Edited by), Kaiama L. Glover (Edited by)

9781009485111, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 November 2024

554 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 3.5 cm, 0.92 kg

From nineteenth-century antislavery pamphleteering to accounts of ecological catastrophe in twenty-first-century fiction, Haitian literature has resounded across the globe since the nation's revolutionaries declared independence in 1804. Starting with pre-revolutionary writing, including the emergence of Haitian Creole letters, extending to the long, largely francophone nineteenth century, and concluding with present-day Haitian writing in the English language, A History of Haitian Literature presents the political, cultural, and historical frameworks necessary to comprehend Haiti's vast literary output. Whether writing in Haiti or its wide-ranging diasporas, Haitian authors have boldly contributed to pressing conversations in global letters while reflecting Haiti's unique cultural and historical experiences. Considering an expansive array of poets, playwrights, and novelists – such as Baron de Vastey, Juste Chanlatte, Demesvar Delorme, Edwidge Danticat, René Depestre, Kettly Mars, Dany Laferrière, and Évelyne Trouillot – the contributors to this volume offer a fresh examination of a richly polyglot, transnational literary tradition that spans more than two centuries.

1. Editor's Introduction Marlene L. Daut and Kaiama L. Glover
2. Literature as Loot: Jean Fouchard's Search for the Roots of Haitian Culture Laurent Dubois
3. Theatre in Early Independent Haiti Grégory Pierrot
4. 'So All the World May Know it': The Literary Value of Nineteenth-Century Haitian Song and Opera Henry Stoll
5. Civil War, 'guerre de plume,' and the Emergence of Early Haitian Periodical Culture Chelsea Stieber
6. History, Politics, and Revolutionary Romanticism in Charles Hérard-Dumesles's Voyage dans le nord d'Hayti (1824) and the anonymously published L'Haïtiade (ca. 1826) Marlene L. Daut
7. The Cénacle and the Sacred: Reading Vodou in Haitian Romanticism Mary Grace Albanese
8. Émeric Bergeaud's Stella: A Discrepant or Contrapuntal Allegorical Reading of the Haitian Revolution Claudy Delné
9. The Predicament of Civilization: Revisiting Late-Nineteenth-Century Haitian Novels Bastien Craipain
10. The Politics of Disenchantment: Haitian Poetry from 1870 to 1915 Amy Lynelle
11. Haitian Poetry in Creole: The Nineteenth Century and Early Twentieth Century Works Marie-José Nzengou-Tayo
12. Some Causes of the Underdevelopment of Haiti's Creole-Language Literature Frenand Léger
13. Performing Rebellion and Re-Membering Haiti's Past and Present in Twentieth Century and Contemporary Theater Rachel Douglas
14. Haitian Writers and the Forging of a National Voice through Periodicals in the Twentieth Century Linsey Sainte-Claire
15. Arrêtez le monde! Je veux rêver: Literature as Politics on Radio Haïti-Inter Laura Wagner
16. Occupation-era literature in Haiti Nadève Ménard
17. Haitian Literature and the Dominican Republic Sophie Maríñez
18. Marxism and the Moun Andeyo Valerie Kaussen
19. Jacques Roumain, from Indigenism to Nationalism Yves Chemla
20. For a History of the Novel of Haitian Tradition, 1901–1961 Jean Jonassaint
21. Exile and Twentieth-century Haitian Writing Martin Munro
22. The Zonbi as Episteme in Haitian Prose Fiction Kaiama L. Glover
23. Living Vodou: Representations of Power and Resistance in René Depestre's Un Arc-en-ciel pour l'Occident chrétien Cécile Accilien
24. Papa Loko's 'dire poétique,' in Twenty-First Century Port-au-Prince-based Haitian Poetry Alessandra Benedicty-Kokken
25. Partisan Politics and Twentieth Century Fictions of the Haitian Revolution Natalie Léger
26. Haitian Women's Fiction Marie-Denise Shelton
27. Haitian Uses of the Erotic: Feminist Genealogies and Geographies Régine Michelle Jean-Charles
28. Archiving Narratives of Maternal Loss and Queer Life in Haitian Fiction in the Wake of the 2010 Earthquake Nathan Dize
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]