Yale French Studies, Number 107: The Haiti Issue: 1804 and Nineteenth-Century French Studies

Deborah Jenson
Editor’s Preface

Nick Nesbitt
The Idea of 1804

Christopher L. Miller
Forget Haiti: Baron Roger and The New Africa

Chris Bongie
“Monotonies of History” Baron Vastey and the Mulatto Legend of Derek Walcott’s Haitian Trilogy

Doris Kadish
Haiti and Abolitionism in 1825: The Example of Sophie Doin

David F. Bell
Technologies of Speed, Technologies of Crime

Uri Eisenzweig
Violence Untold: The Birth of a Modern Fascination

Dominique Kalifa
Criminal Investigators at the Fin-de-siècle

Andrea Goulet
Curiosity Killer’s Instinct: Bibliophilia and the Myth of the Rational Detective

Nanette Fornabai
Criminal Factors: Fantômas, Anthropometrics, and the Numerical Fictions of Modern Criminal Identity

Tom Gunning
Lynx-Eyed Detectives and Shadow Bandits: Visuality and Eclipse in French Detective
Stories and Films before WWI

Daniel Desormeaux
The First of the (Black) Memorialists: Toussaint Louverture

Albert Valdman
Haitian Creole at the Dawn of Independence

Deborah Jenson
From the Kidnapping(s) ofthe Louvertures to the Alleged Kidnapping of Aristide: Legacies of Slavery in the Post/Colonial World

“Doris Kadish is already known for her valuable and subtle contributions to the study of women and slavery. Together with Deborah Jenson's talent and Norman Shapiro's elegant translations, we are treated to a polyphonic book which revives the lost voices of long forgotten poets. The importance and complexity of the Haitian revolution comes to life in page after page.”—Maryse Condé, author of I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem

“Poetry of Haitian Independence is a magnificent accomplishment, overcoming the stigma of ‘collective bovarism’ with erudition and grace to bring readers a wealth of largely unknown, often stirring poetry that sheds light on the cultural, historical, and political development of Haiti following its 1804 independence.”—Nick Nesbitt, Princeton University

“This groundbreaking collection shines a much-needed light on the diverse styles, themes, and politics of post-Revolutionary Haitian poetry, as well as on the importance of such verse in public life. It will be enormously valuable for scholars and students of Haitian literature and history, as well as for anyone interested in nineteenth-century transatlantic literary cultures.”—Kate Ramsey, author of The Spirits and the Law: Vodou and Power in Haiti

“This collection presents for the first time an alternative history of Haiti right after the only successful revolution of slaves in the New World. There is simply nothing like it.”—Colin Dayan, author of Haiti, History, and the Gods

“The translation is a tour de force. This is an essential missing link to work on the African diaspora, on Haiti, and most importantly not only on comparative slaveries, but on comparative revolutions.”—Alessandra Benedicty, City College of New York

Deborah Jenson

Editorand#8217;s PrefaceNick Nesbitt

The Idea of 1804Christopher L. Miller

Forget Haiti: Baron Roger and The New AfricaChris Bongie

and#147;Monotonies of Historyand#8221;: Baron Vastey and the Mulatto Legend of Derek Walcottand#8217;s Haitian TrilogyDoris Kadish

Haiti and Abolitionism in 1825: The Example of Sophie DoinDavid F. Bell

Technologies of Speed, Technologies of CrimeUri Eisenzweig

Violence Untold: The Birth of a Modern FascinationDominique Kalifa

Criminal Investigators at the Fin-de-siand#232;cleAndrea Goulet

Curiosity Killerand#8217;s Instinct: Bibliophilia and the Myth of the Rational DetectiveNanette Fornabai

Criminal Factors: Fantand#244;mas, Anthropometrics, and the Numerical Fictions of Modern Criminal IdentityTom Gunning

Lynx-Eyed Detectives and Shadow Bandits: Visuality and Eclipse in French Detective

Stories and Films before WWIDaniel Desormeaux

The First of the (Black) Memorialists: Toussaint LouvertureAlbert Valdman

Haitian Creole at the Dawn of IndependenceDeborah Jenson

From the Kidnapping(s) of the Louvertures to the Alleged Kidnapping of Aristide: Legacies of Slavery in the Post/Colonial World

Deborah Jenson
Editor's Preface

Nick Nesbitt
The Idea of 1804

Christopher L. Miller
Forget Haiti: Baron Roger and The New Africa

Chris Bongie
"Monotonies of History" Baron Vastey and the Mulatto Legend of Derek Walcott's Haitian Trilogy

Doris Kadish
Haiti and Abolitionism in 1825: The Example of Sophie Doin

David F. Bell
Technologies of Speed, Technologies of Crime

Uri Eisenzweig
Violence Untold: The Birth of a Modern Fascination

Dominique Kalifa
Criminal Investigators at the Fin-de-siecle

Andrea Goulet
Curiosity Killer's Instinct: Bibliophilia and the Myth of the Rational Detective

Nanette Fornabai
Criminal Factors: Fantomas, Anthropometrics, and the Numerical Fictions of Modern Criminal Identity

Tom Gunning
Lynx-Eyed Detectives and Shadow Bandits: Visuality and Eclipse in French Detective
Stories and Films before WWI

Daniel Desormeaux
The First of the (Black) Memorialists: Toussaint Louverture

Albert Valdman
Haitian Creole at the Dawn of Independence

Deborah Jenson
From the Kidnapping(s) of the Louvertures to the Alleged Kidnapping of Aristide: Legacies of Slavery in the Post/Colonial World

This collection of deeply felt and powerfully moving Haitian poetry dating back to the first decades of the Caribbean island’s independence from French colonial rule sheds a much needed light on an important and often neglected period in Haiti’s literary history. Editors Kadish and Jenson have made a significant corpus of largely unknown poetry accessible to a wide audience for the first time with this essential bilingual volume of early-nineteenth-century verse that celebrates the authors’ African origins, freedom from oppression, equality for all, and the legitimacy of the only modern country born from a slave revolt.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, Haiti became the first and only modern country born from a slave revolt. During the first decades of Haitian independence, a wealth of original poetry was created by the inhabitants of the former French Caribbean island colony and published in Haitian newspapers. These deeply felt poems celebrated the legitimacy of the new nation and the value of the authors’ African origins while revealing a common mission shared by all Haitians in the young republic: freedom from oppressors and equality for all.

 

This powerfully moving collection of Haitian verse written between 1804 and the late 1840s sheds a much-needed light on an important and often neglected period in Haiti’s literary history. Editors Doris Kadish and Deborah Jenson have gathered together poetry that has remained largely unknown and difficult to access since its original publication two centuries ago. Featuring superb translations from the original French by Norman Shapiro and a foreword by the Haitian-born novelist Edwidge Danticat, this essential volume stands as a monument to a turning point in Haitian and world history and makes a significant corpus of poetry accessible to a wide audience for the first time.

Doris Y. Kadish is Distinguished Research Professor Emerita of French and Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia. Deborah Jenson is Professor of Romance Studies and Global Health at Duke University. Norman R. Shapiro is Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and Distinguished Professor of Literary Translation at Wesleyan University and an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.