Frankétienne, called ""the father of Haitian
letters"" by the New York Times, is the author of numerous novels,
plays, and works of poetry. A past Nobel candidate, he is the
recipient of France’s Order of Arts and Letters and has been named
a UNESCO Artist for Peace.
Asselin Charles is Professor of Comparative
Literature.
The New York Times once called Frank�tienne 'the father of Haitian
letters, ' and even though he was absolutely preceded by women and
men of powerful literary stature, the English translation of D�zafi
demonstrates his devotion to the poetics of the Haitian quotidian
in the language of the Haitian people.-- "Reading in
Translation"
"He is not only a major Haitian writer, he is probably the major
Haitian writer, forever."--Jean Jonassaint, Syracuse University
"His work can speak to the most intellectual person in the society
as well as the most humble. It's a very generous kind of genius he
has, one I can't imagine Haitian literature ever existing
without."
"The book is a literary and linguistic treasure that allows anyone
interested in that period to delve into the complexity of Haitian
history, culture, language, religion as well as issues of class,
gender, identity, and power."--C�cile Accilien, Director of the
Institute of Haitian Studies, University of Kansas
In D�zafi, translated by Asselin Charles and published by the
University of Virginia Press, Frank�tienne invites readers into the
heart of rural Haitian communities, to join in their adversity, to
stumble through a story that at times feels intentionally vague and
intensely intimate, to fall down along with the characters and to
pick themselves back up again as the narrative progresses.....Even
though Frank�tienne collapses certain novelistic elements in on
themselves, there are storylines, threads, and traces of characters
that by the end of the story accumulate into a powerful commentary
on the aftershocks of US imperialism in Haiti or the austere
squalor of a country nearly two decades into a dictatorship.--
"Reading in Translation"
The linguistic and stylistic impermeability of D�zafi is as
integral to the text as is the plot. Charles manages to attend to
both in his translation, using footnotes to make proverbial phrases
legible to a non-Haitian readership, without compromising the
text's deliberate opacity.-- "Journal of Haitian Studies"
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